Court will not review Japanese treaty

A South Korean court on Wednesday refused to review a complaint over the 1965 treaty between Japan and South Korea that Tokyo uses to deny compensation for South Korean victims of World War II-era slavery, a boost to recent efforts by the neighbors to improve bad ties.

Seoul's Constitutional Court said that the accord was never meant to serve as a standard for providing individual compensation.

The court's decision came in response to a complaint filed by a woman who said the treaty blocks her right to seek more compensation because of her late father's wartime slavery. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.