On 23 November 2023, the Court of Appeal in Seoul, Republic of Korea, has rendered a judgment whereby it denied the immunity of Japan for its abuses of comfort women during World War II; and it overruled the earlier decision of the Court of First Instance. As a consequence, this has consolidated the opposition of the Korean jurisdiction to the use of State immunity as a tool to shield States from responsibility for wartime abuses or atrocities; this has also consolidated the opposition of various national jurisdictions to the approach taken by the International Court of Justice in the Jurisdictional Immunities (Germany v Italy) case in 2012. Professor Alexander Orakhelashvili has provided pro bono advice on the side of the appellants (see videos here, here and here). Further to the Judgment, an academic conference was held in Seoul on 29 February 2024 at which Professor Orakhelashvili has made a presentation outlining the contrast between the approaches taken by the Court of Appeal and the International Court (both the video presentation and text of the presentation are available).
