JAPAN has been ordered by a South Korean court to compensate 16 “comfort women” who were kept as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

The women, who were forced into military brothels, had a previous case in 2021 dismissed by Seoul Central District Court, which ruled that Japan enjoyed “sovereign immunity” from the jurisdiction of another’s country’s courts.

The Seoul High Court overturned the ruling on Thursday, saying that it recognised South Korea’s jurisdiction over the Japanese government because the women lived in the country and sought compensation for acts deemed unlawful.

“It is reasonable to consider that there is a common international law which does not recognise state immunity for an illegal act … regardless of whether the act was a sovereign act,” it said in a statement.

Ninety-five-year-old activist and victim Lee Yong-soo said she was “really grateful” for the ruling.

She added that she wished she could tell the victims who had already passed away about the verdict.

An estimated 200,000 women and girls were forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers during the war.

Many  were Korean, while others were from mainland China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa called the ruling “extremely regrettable and absolutely unacceptable.”