Tokyo Court Orders North Korea to Pay Damages Over Repatriation Program

(MENAFN) A court in Tokyo on Monday ruled that North Korea must pay 88 million yen (approximately $572,000) in damages to four North Korean defectors and surviving family members living in Japan, citing alleged human rights violations connected to a decades-old repatriation program.

The plaintiffs argued that individuals who moved to North Korea under the repatriation initiative were prevented from leaving the country afterward, according to reports. They said Pyongyang promoted the program by portraying North Korea as a "heaven on earth" and promising access to basic necessities such as food, clothing, and housing.

Presiding Judge Taiichi Kamino noted that the case involved ongoing illegal acts by the North Korean government against the plaintiffs. “It's not an exaggeration to say that they were deprived of most of their lives,” Kamino said. He added that those who relocated were forced to endure harsh living conditions for extended periods because authorities did not allow them to leave freely.

The resettlement program was launched by North Korea in 1959 to attract overseas Koreans to help address labor shortages following the Korean War. At the time, Japan’s government considered ethnic Koreans as outsiders and supported the initiative, resulting in the relocation of more than 93,000 ethnic Korean residents along with their Japanese family members.

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