The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling ordering the state to compensate women who had engaged in prostitution in areas adjacent to U.S. Forces Korea in the 1950s.

In confirming an earlier decision on Thursday that will see the government pay three to seven million won to each of the 120 plaintiffs who filed for damages in 2014, the top court said that the state operation and management of such facilities and the promotion of prositution under former authoritarian governments was unlawful.

Noting that the women's rights and dignity were violated in the process, the court acknowledged that those unwillfully committed to institutions to be treated for sexually transmitted diseases had also likely suffered psychological damage.

It said that the statute of limitations is not applied to grave human rights abuse cases.

While the first court merely recognized that the act of committing women with STDs was illegal, the appellate court held the government accountable.

This is the first time that the top court acknowledged state responsibility behind prostitution.