MOSCOW, Dec 28: The South Korean Supreme Court has finalised two separate rulings in favour of the Koreans forced into labour at Japanese industrial facilities during World War II.
In 2013 and 2015, the survivors of Japan’s forced labour policy and the families of late victims submitted two separate damage compensation suits against two Japanese industrial corporations, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Hitachi Zosen Corp, the agency reported, adding that the victims were forced to work at the plants from September 1944 until August 1945.
On Thursday, South Korea’s Supreme Court finalised the rulings of a lower court, which obligated Mitsubishi and Hitachi to pay out 50-150 million won (US$39,000-US$117,000) in compensation to each victim, the agency reported.
Earlier in December, the South Korean Supreme Court obligated Japanese industrial giants Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay out 100-150 million won in compensation to South Koreans forced into labour at their facilities during the wartime.
A separate ruling made by the Supreme Court of South Korea in 2018 upheld the right of forced labour victims to demand direct compensation from Japanese entities despite the 1965 treaty signed between the two countries regulating colonial-era issues, Yonhap reported.
— BERNAMA