Govt. to again push for third-party reimbursement plan for forced labor victims

Published : Dec 21, 2023 - 20:20 Updated : Dec 21, 2023 - 20:20

Bereaved family members and their lawyers hold a press conference at the Supreme Court in Seoul on Thursday, after the top court upheld two appellate court rulings that ordered two Japanese companies -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp. -- to compensate South Koreans forced into wartime labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. (Yonhap)

South Korea will again seek to compensate the victims of Japan's wartime forced labor under the government's third-party reimbursement system, the foreign ministry said Thursday, after the Supreme Court handed down a ruling ordering Japanese companies to compensate the victims.

Earlier in the day, the top court announced the decisions on two damages suits filed against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp. between 2013 and 2014, ordering them to compensate the South Koreans forced into wartime labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

Seeking to mend ties with Japan, the government announced a plan in March to compensate 15 Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor through a government-affiliated foundation without compensation from liable Japanese firms.

The South Korean government will compensate the victims in Thursday's ruling in accordance with the plan, foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a briefing.

Under the plan, the foundation funded by domestic companies that benefited from a 1965 normalization treaty between the two countries provides payments to former forced laborers on behalf of the responsible Japanese firms.

Seoul's reimbursement plan was initially met with strong backlash from victims and supporting civic groups who demanded Japan's apology and direct involvement by the accused companies in the compensation process.

"Since the March announcement, the government, together with the foundation, has made active efforts to explain to the victims and the bereaved families and to seek their understanding of the government's solution," he said, adding that 11 out of 15 plaintiffs who won the legal battles against the Japanese companies have accepted the compensation scheme.

Following the announcement of the court ruling, Hiroyuki Namazu, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Japan's foreign ministry, summoned Kim Jang-hyun, deputy chief of the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo, to lodge a protest against the latest decision, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)