Seoul:A Seoul appeals court has once again ordered Mitsubishi Materials Corp., a Japanese company, to compensate South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor. The decision was handed down by the appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the court ruled that Mitsubishi Materials must pay a total of 99 million won (approximately US$74,500) to five South Korean individuals who were forced to work in Japan during World War II. This ruling upholds a previous lower court decision that partially favored the plaintiffs.
The compensation amount includes approximately 27 million won to be paid to one plaintiff, identified by the surname Heo, while the remaining four plaintiffs are to receive 18 million won each. This case is part of a broader legal context in which South Korean courts have repeatedly ruled that Japanese companies should compensate victims of forced labor and their families, following two landmark Supreme Court decisions in 2018.
The Supreme Court of South Korea has maintained that the 1965 treaty between South Korea and Japan, designed to resolve issues from Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, does not nullify the right of individuals to seek damages.