Hani Article—
“South Korea’s Supreme Court Continues to Recognize State Liability for 'Samcheong Education Corps Victims'.

Recognized Even Without Official Truth-Finding Procedures…Government's Claims of Statute of Limitations Also Rejected”

Posted to Paperslip on April 28th, 2025.
Translation via ChatGPT.

Paperslip Note: Samcheong Education Corps is amongst the major concentration camps of Korea—the other major ones being Seongam Academy (Incheon) and Brothers Home (Busan). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Republic of Korea (TRC / TRCK) was set up between 2020-2025 mainly to investigate these major concentration camps, and was never originally intended to investigate Overseas Adoption. However, there is broad overlap especially between issues concerning Brothers Home and Overseas Adoption. As well, KSS (Korea Social Service) Founder Kun Chil Paik (Alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) was the former Vice President and President of Seongam Academy, a major concentration camp for boys, in the 1940s, prior to his founding of KSS in 1964. Please note that Seongam Academy was likely at its most notorious as a concentration camp for “vagrant” boys in the 1970s, and that we do not have much information about what Seongam Academy was like in the 1940s when KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik was the administrative head there.

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Hani Article—General Society

”Supreme Court Continues to Recognize State Liability for 'Samcheong Education Corps Victims'

Recognized Even Without Official Truth-Finding Procedures… Government's Claims of Statute of Limitations Also Rejected

By Jang Hyun-eun

Updated: 2025-04-28 20:08 | Published: 2025-04-28 16:32
Reading Time: 3:21

Samcheong Education Corps reformation training scene.

After 4–6 weeks of "education," 7,578 individuals were forced into labor service (forced labor) for over three months and were additionally subjected to protective custody sentences ranging from 1 to 5 years under Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the Supplementary Provisions of the Social Protection Act. (Hankyoreh file photo)

Even in cases involving Samcheong Education Corps victims where no separate truth-finding procedure was conducted and the government claimed the statute of limitations had expired, the Supreme Court continues to recognize state liability for damages.

The Supreme Court's Civil Division 1 (presiding justice: Seo Kyung-hwan) announced on the 28th that it had dismissed the government’s appeal without a full hearing (심리불속행 기각) on April 17th in a damages lawsuit filed by a victim (referred to as Mr. G) against the state. A dismissal without a full hearing means the Supreme Court affirms the lower court’s ruling without further review.

The Samcheong Education Corps case involved the Chun Doo-hwan regime, which, starting in August 1980, used Martial Law Order No. 13 to detain approximately 40,000 people nationwide in military camps, subjecting them to forced ideological reformation and labor service.
Mr. G was arrested by police in August 1980, taken to the Samcheong Education Corps where he endured mistreatment under the pretext of reformation education and labor service, then detained at the Cheongsong Detention Center, only being released in 1983. In July 2023, Mr. G filed a lawsuit against the state seeking 340 million won (approximately USD 250,000) in damages for mental suffering.

The first-instance court ruled,

"The plaintiff was subjected to reformation education under a martial law order that was clearly unconstitutional and invalid, was forced into labor under the guise of ‘labor service’ without legal basis while detained, and further suffered protective custody, thus violating his personal liberty and human dignity,"
recognizing the state's liability and ordering a compensation of 200 million won.

The government argued that, since Mr. G’s release, more than five years (the long-term statute of limitations) had passed since the illegal act occurred. However, the court rejected this, citing the 2018 Constitutional Court ruling that the statute of limitations does not apply to "serious human rights violations" under the Framework Act on the Clearing up of Past Incidents for Truth and Reconciliation.

Although Mr. G had missed the deadline to formally request a truth-finding investigation through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the court deemed his case equivalent to serious human rights violations already recognized under that law.

In the appellate trial, the government further argued that Mr. G’s right to claim state compensation should have been exercisable, at the latest, from December 28, 2018, when the Supreme Court ruled that Martial Law Order No. 13 was unconstitutional and invalid, and thus the three-year statute of limitations had expired.

However, the appeals court ruled that the statute of limitations had not begun to run until August 30, 2022, when the Supreme Court ruled that the state could be held liable for damages caused by the unconstitutional Emergency Measure No. 9, indicating that there had been no legal consensus on state liability before then.

On April 24, the Supreme Court also dismissed without a full hearing the government’s appeal in another case involving 12 Samcheong Education Corps victims who had their cases officially recognized by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, affirming the lower court's decision ordering the state to pay each plaintiff between 70 million and 80 million won (approx. USD 52,000–60,000) for one year’s damages.

Attorney Cho Young-sun, who represented the plaintiffs, said,
"The important point is that the statute of limitations was rejected regardless of whether there was a decision by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission," and added, "Since many among the 40,000 victims have not yet even applied for compensation, it is necessary to amend the Truth and Reconciliation Act to allow for collective compensation without the need for separate lawsuits."

By Jang Hyun-eun | mix@hani.co.kr