Court upholds ruling ordering Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate forced labor victims

(Gwangju High Court)

An appellate court on Thursday upheld a lower court order requiring Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate South Koreans who were forced into labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The Gwangju High Court partially sided with 14 plaintiffs — surviving victims and bereaved families — reaffirming a district court ruling that found the Japanese conglomerate responsible for damages

Under the ruling, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was ordered to pay 100 million won ($68,000) to each surviving victim, while compensation for deceased victims is to be distributed to their heirs according to their respective inheritance shares.

The plaintiffs said they were forcibly taken to Japan during the colonial period and subjected to labor at Mitsubishi facilities, including the company's Nagoya aircraft manufacturing plant.

The lawsuit was filed following a landmark 2018 Supreme Court ruling that recognized the liability of Japanese companies for forced labor during the colonial era, rejecting Japan's claim that all compensation issues were settled under a 1965 bilateral treaty.

As of Thursday, a total of 14 forced labor compensation cases are pending in the Gwangju region: nine at the Gwangju High Court and five at the Gwangju District Court.