Japan Firm Ordered to Compensate S. Korea Wartime Forced Labor

Seoul, Oct. 30 (Jiji Press)--A district court in Seoul ordered major Japanese machine tool maker Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. <6474> on Thursday to pay a total of 1.5 billion won to 28 South Korean plaintiffs in a lawsuit over forced labor at munition factories during World War II. Seoul Central District Court ordered the company, based in Toyama, central Japan, to pay up to 100 million won per head as compensation for former forced laborers, all women. The ruling is the fourth so far in South Korea to order a Japanese company to pay compensation for forced labor during the last war. Although the plaintiffs filed a similar lawsuit in Japan, Japan's Supreme Court upheld lower court rulings in 2011 that found their rights to seek compensation were lost under a bilateral pact concluded in 1965, while admitting that they were forced to work at such factories. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in South Korea in February last year after South Korea's top court issued a ruling in 2012 that recognized the rights of former forced laborers to seek compensation. In the ruling issued Thursday, the district court said that the company forcibly took women including students aged 12-18 and forced them to work at munition factories under harsh conditions. The court said it cannot be said that the bilateral pact nullified their individual rights to seek compensation. An 83-year-old plaintiff said that she wants Japan to feel guilt and apologize and have compensation paid based on the ruling. Nachi-Fujikoshi said in a statement that it is regrettable that its argument was not upheld and that it will appeal against the South Korean court's ruling. END