Bereaved families of South Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor and their lawyers hold a news conference at the Gwangju District Court in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Feb. 15, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
GWANGJU, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — A group of South Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor won another damages suit against a Japanese company Thursday.
The Gwangju District Court in the southwestern city of Gwangju ruled in favor of 15 bereaved families of 11 South Korean forced labor victims in the litigation against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
The court ordered the Japanese firm to pay 100 million won (US$75,000) per victim.
Depending on their share of any inheritance, the plaintiffs are expected to be paid between 19 million won and 100 million won.
The plaintiffs launched the lawsuit in 2019, alleging that the victims were forcibly mobilized to work at a Mitsubishi aircraft plant in Nagoya and other places.
The plaintiffs have had difficulties, such as lack of data, to prove the damage suffered by the victims, as all of them have died. Lawyers for Mitsubishi have also argued that there are problems with the evidence.
(Yonhap)
