The Legal Responsibility of States for Past Actions - The Situation of 'Comfort Women'

Résumé : A number of women were sexually enslaved by the Japanese military during the Second World War and were known as 'comfort women'. It is a wrongful action of the Japanese state in the past which still brings the international attention. In order to overcome the past, such wrong doings should be considered in the context of legal responsibility of the state. Legal responsibility is distinguished from moral responsibility; state responsibility differs from individual responsibility. Seeking the legal responsibility of the state is an important process to achieve proper justice in the international community.