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Former comfort women Kim Bok-dong (right) and Gil Won-ok criticize the South Korean government at a lounge in the office of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop) in Seoul’s Mapo district

Twelve comfort women survivors filed suit against the South Korean government for 100 million won (US$89,400) in damages each, the Foundation for Justice and Remembrance of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Victims announced on Aug. 30.

The survivors’ claim is that the South Korean and Japanese government inflicted psychological and material harm on them by agreeing to a resolution of the comfort women issue on Dec. 28 of last year without their consent.

In their suit to Seoul Central District Court on Aug. 30, the survivors cited a ruling by the Constitutional Court on Aug. 30, 2011, which stated that the South Korean government’s failure to hold Japan responsible for damages to resolve the comfort women issue was unconstitutional because it violated the victims’ basic constitutional rights.

“Not only has the [South Korean] government not resolved this unconstitutional situation, but by declaring its permanence [with the Dec. 28 agreement] it has inflicted psychological and material harm on its own comfort women victims,” the petition said.

The survivors participating in the lawsuit are Gang Il-chul, Gil Won-ok, Kim Gun-ja, Kim Bok-dong, Kim Bok-deuk, Park Ok-seon, Ahn Jeom-sun, Lee Sun-deok, two both named Lee Ok-seon, Lee Yong-su, and Ha Su-im.

“The victims have held and will continue to hold the Japanese government legally responsible for forcing us into sexual slavery,” they said in a press release the same day.

“At the same time, we must also hold the South Korean government responsible for abandoning efforts to aid victims from among its own people.”

By Park Soo-jin, staff reporter

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