Former comfort women's lawsuit is last battle of World War II

SEOUL: The Bush administration is reportedly seeking the dismissal of a class-act lawsuit brought to a federal district court in Washington, D.C. by a group of 15 former "comfort women" against Japan. United States government lawyers plainly sided with Japan in a "statement of interest" filed late last month, by saying that Japan is entitled to sovereign immunity and that the U.S. court lacks jurisdiction over the case.

The U.S. government's position predicts a long and tough battle to be waged by these aging Asian women in their landmark legal action on behalf of hundreds of survivors of Japan's World War II military sexual slavery system. It is a shame that these victims of abominable wartime crimes should again encounter the mighty barriers of the rules of international politics where national interests override justice and morality, if not flexible standards of human rights of a superpower.

How the plaintiffs should feel is clearly expressed in the response by one of their lawyers, Michael D. Hausfeld. The Washington Post reported earlier last week that he condemned it as "one of the most outrageous positions he has ever seen the United States take on issues involving fundamental human rights." Some may find his remarks to be even more apt, with the U.S. recently voted out of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

The American lawyer was further quoted as saying: "If Japan is found to be immune from damages, any country, any time, anywhere, could enslave women and children, rape them, sterilize them, torture them and be immunized from legal responsibility to their victims."

In the face of Japan's consistent denial of its legal responsibility, the women -- including six South Koreans, four Chinese, four Filipinos and one Taiwanese -- brought the case to the U.S. courts under the Alien Tort Claims Act. The 18th-century federal law allows foreign citizens the right to sue other foreign citizens and entities for abuses of international law.

The U.S. government may have heeded its lawyers who warned that, if the case were allowed to proceed, it could find itself subject to similar lawsuits in other countries over military acts or issues of human rights. And, more importantly, the Justice Department said that the case could not move forward because Japan has already satisfied war claims decades ago through treaties.

Nonetheless, the issue of sexual slavery in Japan's military camps before and during World War II was not mentioned in any of the bilateral or multilateral treaties that Japan signed with other nations after its defeat in the war. It must also be noted that atrocities against humanity of such nature and scale do not come under the statutes of limitation of any international law. They evidently qualify for universal jurisdiction as well.

The legal interpretation of this unprecedented class-action suit aside, the U.S. government's move to resist it is certainly undesirable in view of the traditionally friendly relations between Seoul and Washington.

Aggravating friction over the sensitive issue between Seoul and Tokyo would not contribute to the trilateral security ties among the three allies. Even more worrisome is that more than a few Koreans may recall the way the United States pardoned many prominent Japanese war criminals after 1945.

Concerned officials in Washington are urged to consider the position of the South Korean government that the 1965 Korea-Japan treaty for normalizing diplomatic relations did not nullify the individual rights of the Korean people to demand compensation from Japan over damages they suffered during the colonial period. As a mediator for the treaty, the U.S. should take note that it only concerned property claims and not personal damages.

Faced with the desperate efforts of these women to make the world believe their painful stories, the crucial question that is haunting us is why they had to go to the U.S. court after all.

In this regard, leaders of this country should do everything they can to help these old women attain peace of mind in their twilight years. Prior to blaming others, Koreans must do their utmost to support them.

-- The Korea Herald/Asia News Network