One of the surviving South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor has expressed an intent to accept the Seoul government's third-party reimbursement plan, an informed source said Sunday.
The person, whose identity was withheld, recently reversed an earlier objection to the plan that the government announced in March to compensate victims thorough a government-affiliated foundation without contributions from Japanese firms, according to the source.
The victim is among the three surviving ones who won compensation suits against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp. at the Supreme Court in 2018.
Earlier in the day, Japan's Kyodo News and Tokyo Shimbun also reported that one victim has shown an intention to receive compensation from the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization under the interior ministry.
It remains unknown what has caused the victim to accede to the compensation plan.
The foundation has just received the victim's intention and no compensation procedures have begun yet, the source said. Should the foundation decide on the payment, it would mark the first such case involving a surviving victim.
Some victims and bereaved families have rejected the third-party compensation scheme and called for sincere apologies from the Japanese government and companies.
Source: Yonhap News Agency