“Even ‘pro-Japanese assets’ sold off can be recovered” ... Ministry of Justice wins all claims at first instance in 2.7 billion won lawsuit

[Financial News] A court has once again ruled that the state can recover the proceeds even when descendants of pro-Japanese, anti-national collaborators sell so-called “pro-Japanese assets” to a third party. The descendants’ counterargument that “the statute of limitations has expired” was also rejected.
The Ministry of Justice said on the 12th that it had won all claims at the first-instance trial in a lawsuit against the descendants of Shin Woo-seon, a pro-Japanese, anti-national collaborator who served as an associate councillor on the Central Council of the Japanese Government-General of Korea. The suit sought the return of unjust enrichment from the sale proceeds and registration of the transfer of ownership. The Goyang Branch Court of the Uijeongbu District Court issued its ruling on the 8th.■ 14 parcels of land adjudicated in 1913 ... sale proceeds also to be recoveredShin Woo-seon was born in 1873 and died in 1943. He received honors from the Japanese government, including the Korea Annexation Commemorative Medal. The lawsuit concerns 14 parcels in Ilsandong-gu, Goyang, subdivided from land Shin acquired through adjudication in 1913 and 1917. Adjudication was an administrative measure by which the colonial government established land ownership through the Korea Land Survey Project. Civil-law ownership comprises the rights to use, benefit from, and dispose of property.
The Ministry of Justice sought to recover about 2.7 billion won in total: about 2.43 billion won in proceeds from 13 parcels sold by the descendants between 1993 and 2005, and one parcel they still own, with an officially assessed value of about 270 million won.■ Second commission expected to broaden scope of recoveriesThe ruling reaffirmed the legal principle that the state can recover sale proceeds even when pro-Japanese assets were sold to a third party before the Special Act on the Reversion to the State of Property of Pro-Japanese and Anti-National Collaborators (Pro-Japanese Property Reversion Act) took effect in December 2005. In December 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that property disposed of before the Act took effect was also included among pro-Japanese assets subject to recovery.
The descendants argued that the state’s claim for the return of unjust enrichment was barred by the five-year statute of limitations under the National Finance Act, but the court rejected the argument as an abuse of rights. A statute of limitations extinguishes a right if it is not exercised for a specified period; an abuse of rights refers to a situation in which exercising a right is formally legitimate but not permissible in substance. In December 2024, the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, citing the public interest in having pro-Japanese assets revert to the state.
The first Pro-Japanese Property Investigation Commission, which operated from 2006 to 2010, considered only property disposed of after the Act took effect eligible for recovery. The second commission can now broaden the scope of recoveries based on the legal principle confirmed by this ruling.
Acting Minister of Justice Lee Jin-su said, “This ruling will be an important milestone for the recovery work of the second Pro-Japanese Property Investigation Commission, which will launch on December 3,” adding, “I will make every effort to ensure the commission is prepared to launch successfully.”

[email protected] Kim Dong-gyu Reporter