A Seoul appeals court on Tuesday again ordered a Japanese company to compensate Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor. The appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court ruled that Mitsubishi Materials Corp. must pay a total of 99 million won ($74,500) to five Koreans who were forced to work in Japan during World War II, upholding a lower court’s ruling partially in favor of the plaintiffs. Mitsubishi Materials, formerly known as Mitsubishi Mining, was ordered to pay approximately 27 million won to one plaintiff, surnamed Heo, and 18 million won each to the four others. Korean courts have issued numerous rulings ordering Japanese companies to compensate forced labor victims and their families since the Supreme Court upheld two landmark compensation rulings in 2018. The Supreme Court said the 1965 treaty signed between Korea and Japan to settle issues stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula did not extinguish individuals’ right to seek damages.
