A Tokyo court has ordered North Korea to pay 88 million Japanese yen ($570,000 / £416,000) in compensation to four people who were persuaded to move to the country decades ago under a propaganda-driven resettlement scheme.
The plaintiffs said they were told North Korea was a “paradise on Earth,” but instead endured harsh living conditions, forced labour, and strict restrictions on personal freedom. All four eventually escaped the country.
The ruling, delivered on Monday after years of legal proceedings, is largely symbolic, as enforcement remains virtually impossible. North Korea has repeatedly ignored the lawsuit, and leader Kim Jong Un has not responded to summonses issued by Japanese courts. Nonetheless, the plaintiffs’ lawyers hailed the decision as historic.
“This is the first time a Japanese court has exercised its sovereignty against North Korea to recognise its wrongdoing,” said Atsushi Shiraki, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Between 1959 and 1984, more than 90,000 Zainichi Koreans—ethnic Koreans living in Japan—relocated to North Korea under a government-promoted resettlement programme promising free healthcare, education, and employment. Survivors, however, reported forced labour on farms and in factories, pervasive surveillance, and no freedom to leave.
One of the plaintiffs, Eiko Kawasaki, moved to North Korea in 1960 at the age of 17. She escaped in 2003 and is now 83. Kawasaki was among five people who filed the lawsuit in 2018; two of the original plaintiffs have since passed away, while one continues to be represented by family members.
A Tokyo district court initially dismissed the case in 2022, ruling it fell outside Japanese jurisdiction and was barred by the statute of limitations. That decision was overturned in 2023 by the Tokyo High Court, which affirmed Japanese jurisdiction and found that North Korea had violated the plaintiffs’ rights.
“It’s not an overstatement to say most of their lives were ruined by North Korea,” Judge Taiichi Kamino said during Monday’s ruling, according to the Associated Press.
Plaintiff lawyer Kenji Fukuda described the judgment as significant, while acknowledging the practical difficulties in obtaining compensation from North Korea.
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