By Lee Hyo-sik
A law disallowing state medical subsidies to Koreans, conscripted by the Japanese military during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula (1910-45), but serving within Korea, is constitutional the highest court said Sunday.
The ruling came after a man who was conscripted in June 1945 by the Japanese army and served in Busan filed a constitutional appeal after he was denied state medical funding. He argued that the law was unconstitutional on the grounds it violated the principle of equality.
The law, designed to assist those who were forced to serve in the Japanese military during World War II, entitles only draftees who were forcibly sent to Japan, China and other foreign countries to fight for the Japanese army against the allied forces to state assistance. It was enacted in June 2008.
“The state can decide the scale of the support extended to those forcibly drafted by Japan during colonial rule at its discretion, given its financial soundness and other factors. It is not necessarily discriminatory for the government to place priority on those who served in the Japanese military abroad, because they were deemed to be more traumatized than draftees working domestically,” the Constitutional Court said.
Six out of the nine judges ruled in favor of the law, with the remaining three judges calling it unconstitutional.
The court also said the government has taken steps to uncover what happened to Koreans who were mobilized locally, as well as honor their sacrifice, adding even though state support for them is not substantial, it is wrong to call it entirely inadequate.
But the three objecting judges said the country was obliged to enact a law aimed at helping Korean draftees forced to work for the Japanese military domestically. “It has been more than 60 years since the Republic of Korea was founded. But the nation has not taken any legislative steps. This is unconstitutional,” they said.