Lawsuit seeks to recover profits from descendent of Korean aristocrat who collaborated with Japan

The Seoul Central District Court building in Seocho District, southern Seoul, is seen on Nov. 15, 2024. [YONHAP]

 
The government has filed a lawsuit against the descendant of pro-Japanese aristocrat Lee Hae-seung (1890—1958) to recover 7.8 billion won ($5.5 million) in profits from the sale of land in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi.
 
The Ministry of Justice announced Sunday that it filed a claim for unjust enrichment with the Seoul Central District Court on Friday, seeking to recover proceeds from the sale of 31 plots of land in Howon-dong, Uijeongbu, previously held by Lee’s descendant.
 
 
Under the Special Act on Asset Confiscation for Pro-Japanese and Anti-National Collaborators to the State, property acquired through pro-Japanese collaboration between the signing of the Japan—Korea Treaty in 1904 and Korea’s liberation on Aug. 15, 1945, is subject to state forfeiture.
 
Lee received the title of marquess from the Japanese Empire in 1910 and lived as a member of the Korean nobility under colonial rule (1910-1945). In 2009, Korea’s Presidential Committee for Inspection of Collaborations for Japanese Imperialism officially designated his ennoblement as an act of pro-Japanese collaboration.
 
In 2020, the Justice Ministry won a separate lawsuit against Lee’s descendant to reclaim 13 plots in the Uijeongbu area. The 31 plots involved in the new lawsuit had been excluded at the time due to the statute of limitations.
 
However, in December last year, the Supreme Court ruled that invoking the statute of limitations in such cases constituted an abuse of rights and the ministry revisited the case to proceed with this new legal action.
 
The government has been in a long-running legal battle with Lee’s descendants. In 2007, it reclaimed 192 plots inherited by the descendants on the grounds that Lee had been granted his title for contributing to Korea’s annexation by Japan. The heir, however, argued that the title was granted due to “royal lineage rather than colonial collaboration” — and ultimately prevailed in the Supreme Court.
 
In response, the National Assembly revised the confiscation law in 2011, removing the provision related to “contributions to annexation,” and the government filed a new lawsuit under the amended law. But the court ruled that only one parcel — a 4-square-meter plot not included in the first case — was eligible for recovery.
 
“We will continue to thoroughly recover assets gained through acts of pro-Japanese collaboration, uphold justice and strive to realize the constitutional ideals of the March 1 Independence Movement,” said Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]