TOKYO, April 27 — Bluntly condemning Japanese policy, a court ruled today that the Government must compensate three South Korean women forced to work in brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
The ruling, the first in a lawsuit by former brothel victims, awarded the women the equivalent of $2,300 each. It was likely to have a profound effect on five pending cases and could encourage others to file similar lawsuits.
Japan's Government has refused to compensate individual war victims, contending that postwar treaties settled all wartime claims.
In his surprisingly sharp ruling, a Yamaguchi District Court Judge, Hideaki Chikashita, called the army's actions an example of sexual and ethnic discrimination and a ''fundamental violation of human rights.''
Historians say as many as 200,000 women from Asia and elsewhere were taken to front-line brothels to serve Japanese soldiers.
