Bereaved families of South Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – The bereaved family of a South Korean victim of Japan’s wartime forced labor on Tuesday received compensation from Hitachi Zosen Corp. in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling, marking the first such acceptance from a Japanese company.
The family withdrew 60 million won (US$44,830) from the Seoul Central District Court, which was earlier deposited by Hitachi Zosen as a kind of collateral, according to their lawyer.
The payment came after the Supreme Court last December upheld an appeals court’s ruling that ordered the Japanese company to pay 50 million won and delay interest for damages suffered by the victim, surnamed Lee, from forced labor at its shipyard during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule.
Hitachi made the monetary deposit soon after the Seoul High Court made a decision to the same effect of a decision by the Supreme Court in January 2019. It was the first and only case in which a Japanese company involved in wartime forced labor has paid money to a South Korean court.
Thereafter, Lee’s side has taken the due procedures to receive the deposit as compensation.
A number of South Korean forced labor victims and their bereaved families have won damages suits against Japanese companies, but any voluntary compensation payment from them had not been reported.
“This is the first time that money voluntarily paid by a Japanese company has been delivered to a victim of forced labor,” said a lawyer for the Lee family. “It’s meaningful that de facto compensation for some victims has been provided by a Japanese company.”
The compensation with the deposit came amid a warming of bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo after President Yoon Suk Yeol said in March last year that South Korea will compensate the victims on its own without the contribution of liable Japanese firms.
“We understand that the procedure was carried out in accordance with relevant laws and regulations,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a briefing.
“The government’s stance remains unchanged that the Foundation for the Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan will pay the compensation and unpaid interest to the plaintiffs,” Lim said, referring to the state-funded foundation set up to handle the compensation.
The Japanese government expressed regret over the Korean family’s withdrawal of the deposit from the Japanese firm, citing a 1965 agreement between Seoul and Tokyo on resolving colonial-era issues.
“It is deeply regrettable that this decision is based on a ruling that blatantly contradicts the 1965 agreement, unfairly disadvantaging Japanese companies,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press briefing in Tokyo.
Hayashi said his government has been demanding Seoul to take “relevant actions” based on its earlier pledge to compensate the victims on its own without the contribution of liable Japanese firms.
“We will relevantly convey the stern protest to the Korean government,” he said.
(Yonhap)
