日本政府、初弁論を欠席　「主権免除」原則焦点に―慰安婦訴訟

　【ソウル時事】韓国人元慰安婦らが日本政府を相手取って起こした損害賠償訴訟の第１回口頭弁論が１３日、ソウル中央地裁で開かれた。日本政府は、外国の裁判権に主権国家は服さないとする国際法上の「主権免除」の原則に基づき訴訟の却下を求めており、弁論を欠席。日本政府の主張に対し、地裁がどのような判断を下すかが焦点だ。
　原告側弁護士は口頭弁論で２０１５年末の慰安婦問題をめぐる日韓合意を「納得し難い結果だ」と批判し、訴訟は「日本軍の反人倫的犯罪を司法の下で公的に確認するため」と主張。元慰安婦の李容洙さんも「裁判に出るべきだ」と日本側の欠席を非難し、真相究明のほか、日本の謝罪と賠償を強く求めた。
　原告側は日本政府の不法行為が韓国で行われたことなどを理由に主権免除は適用されないと主張している。この日の審理は準備書面の朗読と原告発言だけで終了し、次回期日は来年２月５日の予定。（2019/11/13-20:01）

Japanese government representatives did not show up at the first hearing Wednesday in a damages lawsuit filed with Seoul Central District Court by former comfort women in South Korea.
   The plaintiffs, who were forced to provide sex chiefly to Japanese soldiers during World War II, launched the lawsuit in 2016 requesting the Japanese government to pay 3 billion won in compensation.
   But Tokyo finds it unadvisable to take part in the trial because South Korea, and any other foreign country, has no jurisdiction over Japan, a sovereign nation, under international law.
   The plaintiffs, for their part, claim that the Japanese government's illicit activities took place in places now part of South Korea. The Korean Peninsula was then under Japanese colonial rule.
   At the first hearing, the plaintiff side said the suit was filed to judicially confirm the Imperial Japanese Army's inhumane acts, while stressing that it is hard to accept the 2015 agreement between the Japanese and South Korean governments to resolve the comfort women issue.