Seoul: South Korea’s top court ordered two Japanese companies to financially compensate more of their wartime Korean workers for forced labour, as it sided on Thursday with its contentious 2018 verdicts on the firms that caused a huge setback in relations between the Asian neighbours.
But observers said that Thursday’s ruling won’t likely hurt bilateral ties much since Seoul and Tokyo, now governed by different leaders, are pushing hard to bolster their partnerships in the face of shared challenges like North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats and China’s increasing assertiveness.
The Supreme Court ruled that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries must provide between 100 million and 150 million won (USD 76,700 and USD 115,000) in compensation to each of four plaintiffs all bereaved families of its former employees who were forced to work for the company during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The court also said Nippon Steel Corp. must give 100 million won (about USD 76,700) to each of seven Korean plaintiffs, also all bereaved relatives, for similar colonial-era forced labour. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the ruling upholding orders for these firms is a violated a 1965 treaty, according to Rueters.