Japanese court rejects case over North Korea resettlement scheme

Five plaintiffs said they were promised paradise on Earth' in North but endured decades of abuse

A Tokyo court has rejected a lawsuit filed by five people seeking compensation from North Korea for what they said was decades of abuse after they were lured there by Pyongyang's false promise of living in the paradise on Earth".

The five plaintiffs, including ethnic Koreans and Japanese who moved to North Korea under a 1959-1984 repatriation programme and later fled, filed the lawsuit in 2018 seeking 100m yen (about 625,000 today) each in compensation over what they said was illegal solicitation and detainment".