A Seoul court has ordered a Japanese firm to pay 100 million won ($86,100) to eight South Koreans as compensation for forcing them into labour.
Judge Ma Yong-joo of Seoul Central District Court, gave the order to Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. (NSSMC) after finding it guilty of the charge.
The judge agreed that the company forced the plaintiffs into labour decades ago when Korea was under Japan’s colonial rules between 1910 and 1945.
He said the defendant was what the company in the colonial era had been re-incorporated into, holding the liability of the acts in the past.
He said the defendant was what the company in the colonial era had been re-incorporated into, holding the liability of the acts in the past.
Yong-joo said that the court did not recognise the Japanese company’s claim that the plaintiffs’ right to demand compensation expired with a 1965 treaty.
The treaty normalised bilateral ties in return for an economic aid package from Japan.
The treaty normalised bilateral ties in return for an economic aid package from Japan.
In July, 2013, the Seoul High Court ruled against the Japanese firm in a similar case and ordered it to pay 100 million won each to four victims.
The issue of forced labour is becoming increasingly urgent as most surviving victims are well over 80 years old and may die before they receive compensation or an apology from the Japanese firms.
It is unclear how many people were mobilised for forced labour and died.
Some civic society groups claim the number of conscripts goes up to a million or more.
Some civic society groups claim the number of conscripts goes up to a million or more.
The Japanese government and the companies that used forced labourers have, however, refused to pay any compensation, saying all issues regarding its colonial rule, including sex slavery, were covered by the 1965 package. (Yonhap/NAN)
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