Law seizing collaborator's property found constitutional

[photo captured from Constitutional Court of Korea]

Maeil Gyungjaereported that the Constitutional Court has come to a 5 to 4 decision regarding the appeal of a special law that allows for the confiscation of property that belongs to the descendants of Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese while under occupation. "Considering the personality of betrayal exhibited by the collaborators, and based on the tradition of law that began with the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea during occupation, the seizure of property earned as a collaborator with the Japanese has been shown to be constitutional."

Yonhap News reported 40 descendants of collaborators with the Japanese responded as soon as the decision to seize real estate was announced. They asserted that the law, enacted after the fact, is in violation of constitutional restrictions on guilt-by-association legislation. Seven constitutional appeals have been filed and are currently awaiting a series of hearings.

Translated by Bret Chernoff