S. Korea’s Top Court Finalizes Damages Ruling against Nippon Steel

Seoul, Aug. 12 (Jiji Press)–South Korea’s Supreme Court on Wednesday finalized a lower court ruling ordering Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. to pay 80 million won, or about 9 million yen, in damages to the bereaved family of a Korean wartime laborer. The top court dismissed Nippon Steel’s appeal, marking the second finalized defeat for the Japanese company among the additional lawsuits filed after the South Korean top court issued its first ruling in October 2018 ordering a Japanese firm to pay compensation for wartime labor. The family argued that the wartime laborer was forced to perform dangerous work under harsh conditions at the Kamaishi steelworks in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, from February 1942 to July the same year, when the person fled from the site. The family’s side lost in the court of first instance. In 2024, however, a higher court reversed the decision after adopting a new interpretation regarding the statute of limitations. In 2023, the South Korean government announced a solution under which a government-affiliated foundation would provide compensation on behalf of Japanese companies. Concerns have been raised, however, about a lack of funds at the foundation. Meanwhile, in August last year, a court ordered the seizure of shares owned by Nippon Steel. With the process of converting the assets into cash expected to take time, the family’s side in talks with reporters showed hopes to proceed with whichever method would enable quicker receipt of compensation. According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Masaaki Kanai, director-general of the ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, on Wednesday informed Lee Sang-yeol, deputy chief of mission at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo, of Japan’s consistent position that the issue of wartime labor was settled by the 1965 Japan-South Korea agreement on property and claims. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]