Fund to compensate 10 of 15 forced labor victims

Ten of the 15 forced labor victims involved in lawsuits against Japanese companies have agreed to compensation from the fund set up by the Korean government instead of by the Japanese companies in question...

Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at Korea's Foreign Ministry, center, speaks with the press in Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Ten of the 15 forced labor victims involved in lawsuits against Japanese companies have agreed to compensation from the fund set up by the Korean government instead of by the Japanese companies in question.

"Ten forced labor victims and their relatives will have been recompensed as of tomorrow," Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at Korea's Foreign Ministry, said in a press briefing Thursday. "These 10 victims and their relatives have expressed their desire to resolve the issue quickly."

Two of the 10 individuals have already received compensation as of last week, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The two were recompensed by the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, a government-affiliated organization, which has received donations in recent months after the Foreign Ministry proposed third-party compensation of the victims to resolve the issue with Japan.

The foundation will also recompense the other eight.

Each victim or their relatives were expected to be compensated around 200 million won ($152,770).

Where the 10 victims stand in their rights as plaintiffs in the ongoing suits was not immediately clear.

A total of 15 forced labor victims and their relatives have sued Japanese companies Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The name and logo of the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan appears near its entrance in this file photo dated March 15. [YONHAP]

In landmark rulings in October and November 2018, the Korean Supreme Court ordered the two Japanese companies to individually compensate around 100 to 150 million won to the victims of forced labor during World War II.

The Japanese companies refused to comply, and courts began legal steps toward liquidating their assets in Korea, which was met by protests from Tokyo.

After years of soured ties, the Yoon Suk Yeol government proposed the creation of a fund at the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, with donations from Korean companies that benefitted from the 1965 normalization treaty between Japan and Korea that saw Japan give Korea $300 million in economic aid and $500 million in loans.

The foundation will receive donations from companies on a voluntary basis and is open to receiving them from Japanese companies as well.

Steelmaker Posco, one of around 16 Korean companies known to have benefitted from the 1965 treaty, donated 4 billion won to the fund last month.

The American Chamber of Commerce and the alumni association of Seoul National University have also recently donated.

However, some of the victims who sued Japanese companies have declined to take third-party compensation from the Korean government and companies.

Plaintiffs Kim Sung-ju, Yang Geum-deok and Lee Chun-sik said after the Foreign Ministry’s proposal that they will not receive compensation from the fund.

Relatives of two more victims have also said they would not like to receive compensation organized by the Korean government.

Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at Korea's Foreign Ministry, left, speaks with the press in Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]