South Korean court rules against 2 Japanese firms over wartime labor

South Korea's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld rulings ordering two Japanese companies to compensate South Koreans who were forced to work under Japan's 1910-1945 occupation.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel Corp failed to win their appeals in a lawsuit filed by former requisitioned workers from the Korean Peninsula and former members of the women volunteer labor corps.

Both companies called the South Korean court's decision "regrettable" and said that the issue of South Korean laborers had already been resolved by a 1965 treaty between the two countries.

Disputes over forced labor and wartime sex abuse have soured relations between Japan and South Korea for decades.

In an effort to mend ties with Tokyo, conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced in March former forced laborers would be compensated through an existing public foundation funded by South Korean private-sector companies.

However, Yoon's plan for resolving the cases faced backlash from some victims and South Korea's main opposition party, and cases have continued to move forward.

In two separate cases dating back to 2013 and 2014, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel were ordered to pay 1.17 billion won (about $898,000) to 11 victims or their relatives.

"It's a significant case that shows a diplomatic compromise between South Korea and Japan won't make the issue of forced labor go away," said Kim Yeong-hwan at the Center for Historical Truth and Justice, a civic group helping the forced labor victims.

The decision also reaffirms a 2018 ruling acknowledging the former laborers' right to reparation was not terminated by the 1965 treaty and rejecting Tokyo's position, Kim said.

Some victims were between 13 and 14 years old when they were forced to work at an aircraft factory for eight to ten hours a day without pay in 1944, the group said.

All the plaintiffs involved in the litigation have since died except for one family member, according to the group.

The court ruling came as senior South Korean and Japanese diplomats were due to hold high-level economic talks in Seoul on Thursday for the first time in eight years.

(With input from Reuters)

(Cover: South Korea's Supreme Court building in Seoul, October 30, 2018. /CFP)