ANKARA: South Korea’s top court ruled Thursday in favor of Korean victims of Japan’s forced labor and ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation, according to media reports.
The Supreme Court upheld two separate appellate rulings that ordered Mitsubishi and Hitachi to pay each victim between 50 million won ($38,835) to 150 million won ($116,505), Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.
Surviving victims and families of late victims filed cases in 2012 and 2015 against the Japanese companies, demanding compensation.
Japan lodged a ‘strong protest’ last month with South Korea after a court in Seoul asked Tokyo to compensate wartime comfort women.
Tokyo considers the issue to have been resolved.
Seoul and Tokyo agreed eight years ago to ‘finally and irreversibly’ resolve the wartime sex slave issue.
Japan apologized for its colonial-era excesses and agreed to contribute 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) to a foundation that supports victims.
But Seoul said in March it would compensate Korean victims on its own w
ithout asking for contributions from Japanese companies.
Source: Anadolu Agency