South Korea’s government wins a lawsuit seeking to recover proceeds tied to assets held by the descendants of a pro-Japanese collaborator during Japan’s 1910–45 colonial rule. The Uijeongbu District Court’s Goyang branch rules in the government’s favor in a case seeking the return of “unjust proceeds” from sales of collaborator-related property and the transfer of land ownership.
The justice ministry says the ruling allows the state to pursue the return of such proceeds even when the assets were transferred to third parties before 2005, the year a law was enacted requiring reversion of pro-Japanese collaborators’ property to the government. Officials say the assets in question relate to Shin Woo-sun, identified as serving as a vice councilor on a Japanese colonial-government advisory body and receiving honorary medals from Japan. The ministry says it filed the suit in January and that the total value involved amounts to about 2.7 billion won (roughly $2 million), including proceeds and related land sale value.
