In August, five North Korean defectors residing in Japan filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court charging Pyongyang with human rights abuses. The plaintiffs were described in the Mainichi Shimbun as "second-generation ethnic Koreans" who grew up in Japan but moved to North Korea during the mobilization of Koreans between 1959 and 1984, which was supported by the governments of both North Korea and Japan. During this period, about 93,000 people were "repatriated" to a country very few really knew and none had ever lived in. They bought the propaganda sold by Pyongyang and its political arm in Japan, the General Association of Korean Residents of Japan, or Chongryon, which presented North Korea as "a paradise on Earth." The plaintiffs described widespread starvation and brutal political persecution after they arrived. Eventually, they escaped to South Korea and made their way back to Japan.

Japanese media like nothing better than to demonize North Korea, and the lawsuit has been covered extensively. However, no media outlet has identified the plaintiffs' support group, which is presumably paying their court fees. The repatriation project was spurred by Japanese nationalist elements that wanted to push all ethnic Koreans out of Japan after World War II. The support group also seems aligned to the right side of the political spectrum. Now they are using these defectors to advance their anti-North Korea agenda, and while that doesn't necessarily make the lawsuit a cynical stunt — many Japanese, regardless of political leanings, don't like North Korea — it's important to consider what the true aim of the suit is, especially given that Japan and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations and, as a result, the defendants in the case have no way to respond, even if they wanted to.

While the lawsuit may not count as political theater, it's theater nonetheless, and if it has any worth in that regard, it should be to draw attention to an event that has never been fully appreciated by the domestic media or public. The people who made the move are quite old, and time is running out for gaining any understanding of what happened to them, since no detailed records of the repatriation program were kept at the time. If the lawsuit adds to our knowledge, then it will have value, even if that isn't its purpose.