Japan court summons NKorea leader over repatriation program

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese judge has summoned North Korea’s leader to face demands for compensation by several ethnic Korean residents of Japan who say they suffered human rights abuses in North Korea after joining a resettlement program there. A lawyer and a plaintiff say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un isn’t expected to appear at the Oct. 14 hearing, or respond to demands for $900,000 in compensation for each of the five plaintiffs. About 93,000 ethnic Korean residents of Japan and their family members went to North Korea decades ago under the resettlement program because of promises of a better life and a “paradise on Earth.”