The Ministry of Justice decided not to file an appeal in the government compensation lawsuit filed by Samcheong Education Camp victims against the government.
On the 28th, the Ministry of Justice said, "To promptly remedy the victims' rights, we will, in principle, withdraw appeals in cases currently in the second and third trials, and we have decided to forgo appeals in first-instance rulings to be delivered in the future, except in exceptional cases."
1980 was a time when martial law was expanded nationwide. The National Security Emergency Measures Committee carried out Martial Law Decree No. 13 under the pretext of "a crackdown on hoodlums to eradicate social ills and reformation education."
The Samcheong Education Camp case involved forcibly confining about 39,000 people in education camps set up in military bases and subjecting them to reformation education and labor service.
In the process, abuses such as beatings and forced labor occurred, and about 50 people died. As a result, 2,045 victims filed 638 compensation lawsuits against the state, and trials are underway in court.
Minister Jeong Seong-ho of the Ministry of Justice said, "The Samcheong Education Camp case is a human rights violation caused by the exercise of unlawful state power," adding, "In line with the national integration policy of a government based on popular sovereignty, we decided to withdraw and forgo state appeals to promptly remedy the rights of victims who have suffered for a long time."
Earlier, the Ministry of Justice also decided to uniformly withdraw and forgo appeals in the government compensation lawsuit cases related to the Brothers Home and Seongam Academy.
The Ministry of Justice said, "We will continue efforts in government compensation lawsuit cases brought by victims of unlawful state acts to lessen the victims' suffering."