Japanese Court Exposes North Korea’s Human Rights Abuses in Repatriation Scandal

In a rare but powerful assertion of justice, a Tokyo District Court has held North Korea accountable for decades of human rights abuses inflicted on those deceived by Pyongyang's postwar repatriation program. The court ordered damages totaling 88 million yen ($572,000) to be paid to four surviving plaintiffs who had been lured from Japan with false promises of a "paradise on Earth," only to endure harsh conditions and loss of freedom. How Could Japan Allow Such Betrayal Against Its Own People? Between 1959 and 1984, tens of thousands of ethnic Koreans living in Japan and some Japanese citizens were coaxed...