"Where Is My Mom?" Forced into 'Academy' at 8, State Ordered to Pay 780 Million Won in Damages

A court has ordered the state to pay a total of 780 million won in damages to a victim who was confined to Seon-gam Academy for 10 years following the Korean War, where he was subjected to forced labor and severe abuse.

According to legal circles on Thursday (June 25), Judge Kwak Gyeong-pyeong of the Seoul Central District Court, presiding over the 941st Civil Division, ruled in March that the state and Gyeonggi Province must jointly pay 286 million won to the victim, identified as A.

As A had already been awarded 500 million won in a previous lawsuit last September, the total compensation amount has reached 786 million won.

Seon-gam Academy was a facility for vagrant children located on Seon-gam Island in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.

Although it opened in 1942 during the Japanese colonial period, its jurisdiction was transferred to Gyeonggi Province in 1946 after liberation, effectively placing it under state operation.

At the time, the government forcibly detained children at Seon-gam Academy as part of measures to maintain public order and eradicate vagrancy, as the number of children separated from their families and left unprotected due to the Korean War had surged.

The detained children were forced into unpaid labor in an isolated environment and subjected to abuse, including physical violence.

More than 4,000 boys were taken to the facility, and hundreds of them lost their lives.

Victim A was held at Seon-gam Academy for approximately 10 years, from September 1955 to August 1965, shortly after the Korean War.

He was 8 years old at the time.

During his confinement, he was reportedly forced into labor, such as picking mulberry leaves for sericulture or working in the fields.

A suffered a spinal injury due to beatings during his detention and has experienced aftereffects, including nightmares and sleep disorders caused by trauma.

The court recognized the liability for damages caused by the joint illegal acts of the Republic of Korea and Gyeonggi Province.

The court stated, "It can be acknowledged that the defendant, Gyeonggi Province, infringed upon the children's physical freedom and exploited their labor while operating Seon-gam Academy, and the defendant, the Republic of Korea, failed to manage and supervise these actions by Gyeonggi Province."

Gyeonggi Province argued that since Seon-gam Academy was operated under the leadership of the state, the final responsibility rested solely with the state, but the court did not accept this claim.

Regarding the defendants' argument that the additional lawsuit was improper because the plaintiff had already received a 500 million won judgment for the same claim, the court stated that it did not violate the principle of good faith, as it was made clear in the previous case that only a portion of the total damages was being claimed.

The court noted, "The plaintiff appears to have suffered physical and mental pain by being forcibly detained against his will for a long period of about 9 years and 10 months in an isolated and closed environment on an island," adding, "In particular, his right to education was severely infringed upon as he was a minor at the time of his forced detention."

The court further emphasized, "The forced detention case at Seon-gam Academy is a grave human rights violation that took place over a long period with the active involvement of the state and local government," and added, "The degree of illegality is significant, and there is a great need for deterrence and prevention to ensure that similar human rights violations are not committed again."

(Photo: Provided by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.