Court: "Hyeongjebokjiwon Case, Serious Human Rights Violations... State Must Compensate"

Court: "State responsible for compensating mental damages... Restoration of victims not achieved"
Court orders compensation lawsuit for 16 victims of Hyeongjebokjiwon... Total payment of about 4.5 billion won ruled

The court ruling that the state must compensate the victims of the Busan Hyeongje Bokjiwon incident has come out once again following last month.

The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 14 (Chief Judge Seo Bo-min) ruled on the 31st that the state must pay a total of 4.535 billion KRW to 16 victims of Hyeongje Bokjiwon in two lawsuits filed against the state for damages. Approximately 42% of the total claim amount of 10.83 billion KRW was recognized.

The court stated, "The plaintiffs were confined in Hyeongje Bokjiwon, where their physical freedom and human dignity were violated, and the state is responsible for compensating the mental damages." It pointed out, "This case involves serious human rights violations carried out over a long period with active intervention or tacit consent of public authority, and no damage restoration has been made to date."

It further ruled, "The compensation amount was calculated based on approximately 80 million KRW per year of confinement per plaintiff, considering individual plaintiffs' aftereffects."

Immediately after the verdict, Lee Hyang-jik, representative of the Hyeongje Bokjiwon Seoul-Gyeonggi Victims' Association, said, "If the state does not admit its wrongdoing and appeals, it would be admitting to being an anti-human rights state," and added, "While victims may appeal, we ask the state not to appeal."

The Hyeongje Bokjiwon incident refers to the case from July 20, 1960, when the Hyeongje Childcare Center was established, until August 20, 1992, when the mental care facility was closed, during which public authorities such as the police forcibly confined people labeled as vagrants in Hyeongje Bokjiwon, a private social welfare institution.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.