英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun
ROK’s court decision in constitutional suit avoids new friction with Japan
韓国憲法裁判決　却下で「反日」火種は回避した

South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit claiming that the bilateral agreement with Japan that settled claims for wartime compensation was unconstitutional.
　韓国の憲法裁判所が、日韓請求権協定の違憲性の確認を求めた訴えを却下した。

The court did not render a judgment on whether the agreement was unconstitutional, so a situation in which the court’s decision would create a new source of friction between the two countries may have been avoided.
　憲法判断に踏み込まなかったことで、日韓関係の新たな火種になる事態は避けられたと言えよう。

The lawsuit was filed by the bereaved family of a South Korean man mobilized by the Japanese government as a civilian employee of the military during the war. His family asserted that a provision in the agreement stipulating that South Korea waives the rights to claim compensation from the Japanese government violates property rights guaranteed under South Korea’s Constitution, and is thus unconstitutional.
　訴えを起こしたのは、戦時中、日本政府に動員された軍属の男性の遺族だ。韓国側の請求権放棄を定めた協定の条項について、「憲法が保障する財産権を侵害し、違憲だ」と主張していた。

The bereaved family had originally filed a lawsuit over the money provided by the South Korean government to victims of those who were “forcibly mobilized.” It was in the course of that litigation that the family made its appeal over the agreement to the Constitutional Court.
　遺族は元々、「強制動員」被害者への韓国政府による支援金支給を巡って訴訟を起こし、その過程で憲法裁に訴えた。

As its reason for dismissing the case, the court said its judgment on whether the agreement was unconstitutional would not affect the ruling on the lawsuit (filed by the family regarding the South Korean government’s provision of money).
　憲法裁は「協定が違憲か否かは、（遺族の）訴訟の判決に影響を与えない」と却下理由を示した。

It also said the family’s claim does not meet the requirements for the case to be examined at the Constitutional Court.
訴えが憲法裁で審理する要件を満たさないとも指摘した。

Considering the content of the lawsuit, in which the family calls for an increase in the money provided by the South Korean government, we consider the court’s latest conclusion to be appropriate.
支援金の増額を求めている訴訟の内容を考えれば、穏当な判断だろう。

Since the left-leaning government under then South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said in 2005 that the issue of so-called comfort women had not been settled, the country’s judiciary has apparently tended to interpret the bilateral agreement one-sidedly to favor South Korea.
　左派の盧武鉉政権が２００５年、慰安婦問題は「未解決」だと表明して以降、韓国司法は請求権協定を自国に都合の良いよう、一方的に解釈する傾向が目立つ。

Room for solution

Had the Constitutional Court ruled that the agreement was unconstitutional, it would have caused serious diplomatic friction, undermining the foundation of the bilateral relationship between Japan and South Korea.
　今回も、憲法裁が違憲判決を出せば、重大な外交問題に発展し、日韓関係の基盤が損なわれる恐れがあった。

As the court turned away the claim, it effectively left room for the two countries to strike a deal on the issue of so-called comfort women.
訴えを門前払いしたことで、慰安婦問題の妥結などに余地が残った形だ。

Following the court’s ruling, the Foreign Ministry of Japan issued a comment that both countries need to make efforts for the advancement of the bilateral relationship.
　判決を受け、日本の外務省は、「日韓関係前進のために双方が努力する必要がある」とのコメントを発表した。

The Agreement on the Settlement of Problems Concerning Property and Claims and on Economic Cooperation Between Japan and the Republic of Korea was concluded in 1965, concurrently with the signing of the Treaty of Basic Relations, which established diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea.
　請求権協定は１９６５年、両国が国交を樹立する「基本条約」と同時に締結された。

The agreement stipulated that Japan would provide South Korea with a total of $500 million in economic cooperation in the form of grants and loans, and said the problems concerning property and claims between the two countries as well as their people had been settled completely and finally.
日本が無償・有償で計５億ドルの経済協力を約束し、「両国および国民間の請求権に関する問題が完全かつ最終的に解決された」と明記している。

South Korea later utilized the cooperation money from Japan to build infrastructure, leading to the country’s economic development. The fact that the bilateral agreement has proved beneficial for both countries deserves praise.
　韓国は協力資金をインフラ建設などに活用し、経済発展につなげた。協定が両国のプラスとなったことは、評価されるべきだ。

It is hard to understand the very fact that a lawsuit of this kind was filed with the Constitutional Court.
今回のような訴えが憲法裁に提起されること自体、理解し難い。

South Korean courts are examining other lawsuits whose outcomes also could affect the bilateral relationship. Particularly worrisome is litigation over former requisitioned workers who were mobilized during the war.
　今回の事案以外にも、韓国の裁判所は、日韓関係に影響を及ぼしかねない訴訟を審理している。特に懸念されるのは、戦時中に動員された元徴用工の裁判である。

In 2012, the South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that illegal actions directly linked to the colonial rule were difficult to recognize as subject to the bilateral agreement on property and claims.
　韓国最高裁は１２年、「植民地支配と直結した不法行為」などについては、協定の対象と認め難いという判断を示した。

High courts that had their rulings remanded by the top court handed down numerous decisions ordering Japanese companies, the former employers of the requisitioned workers, to compensate them. These cases are now being heard again at the top court in South Korea.
　審理を差し戻された高裁で、日本企業に賠償を命じる判決が相次ぎ、再び最高裁で審理中だ。

The South Korean government earlier took the position that issues related to the former requisitioned workers were also not subject to the bilateral agreement. We hope the top court in Seoul will make level-headed judgments.
　韓国政府は従来、元徴用工も協定の対象という立場だった。最高裁には冷静な判断を求めたい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 24, 2015)Speech