Seoul, Dec 21 (EFE).- The Supreme Court of South Korea on Thursday upheld two appellate court rulings that ordered two Japanese companies to compensate victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial rule of the peninsula (1910-1945).
The apex court rejected the last possible appeal in two lawsuits against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel between 2013 and 2014, which are in addition to similar compensation orders upheld in 2018 in response to other lawsuits previously opened against the conglomerates.
The ruling orders Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay between 100 and 150 million won ($76,634-$114,948) to each of the three victims and a family member in compensation for their unpaid work at the time at an aircraft plant in Nagoya, in central Japan.
The judgment concerning Nippon Steel obliges the company to pay 100 million won each to seven other victims of forced labor in the cities of Kamaishi (north) and Kitakyushu (south-west), despite the fact that all died during the course of the proceedings, which began in 2013.
Forced labor and other issues related to Japanese colonial domination of the Korean peninsula from the beginning of the 20th century until the end of World War II have been the main diplomatic stumbling block between Japan and South Korea.
According to historians, the archipelago forcibly recruited hundreds of thousands of Koreans during that period to feed its defense industry amid the war.
Seoul and Tokyo signed a treaty in 1965 to normalize their relations in which Tokyo contributed a significant sum of money as compensation for the damage caused during colonization.
Although the treaty closed the case of the enslavement of South Korean workers, the Supreme Court at Seoul recognized the right of private individuals to sue the companies involved.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, at a press conference in Tokyo, described the recent rulings as extremely regrettable and unacceptable, and violated article 2 of the compensation agreement.
Mitsubishi Heavy and Nippon Steel have refused to accept the convictions and those affected have sought to have their assets seized in order to comply with the rulings, the proceedings concerning which remain pending before the Supreme Court separately.
The latest court decision comes amid a rapprochement between Seoul and Tokyo following the coming to power of conservative Yoon Suk-yeol in South Korea, who in early 2023 announced a plan – welcomed by Japan – to compensate Korean victims of forced labor through a public foundation supported by local businesses, an initiative criticized by some of those affected. EFE
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