Government to deposit compensation for holdout forced labor victims

The Foreign Ministry will deposit at local courts compensation money for victims of wartime Japanese forced labor and their relatives who have so far refused to accept the government's compensation scheme...

Lawyer Lim Jae-sung, right, who represents some of the forced labor victims who sued Japanese companies for compensations for their forced labor, speaks with the press just outside the Foreign Ministry building in Seoul on Monday to protest the ministry's decision to make public deposits of third-party compensation money that four out of 15 plaintiffs refused to accept. [YONHAP]

The Foreign Ministry will deposit at local courts compensation money for victims of wartime Japanese forced labor and their relatives who have so far refused to accept the government's compensation scheme.

Some of the money will also go to parties who have been unable to receive compensation due to personal circumstances.

As of Monday, 11 out of 15 plaintiffs who sued Japanese companies for compensation of their forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese annexation of Korea have received third-party compensation, mostly from Korean corporate donations.

For the remaining four plaintiffs, two of whom are surviving victims and the rest relatives of victims who had already passed away, the Foreign Ministry announced it was depositing the compensation money so that they could choose to take it from a local court close to where they live “whenever they wish.”

“This decision was reached so that any of the plaintiffs who change their mind and decide to take on the compensation can do so at their leisure,” said a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official in speaking with the press in Seoul on Monday.

Legal representatives of some of the four plaintiffs immediately protested the ministry's decision on Monday.

“The plaintiffs have made clear their decisions to refuse third-party compensations,” Lim Jae-sung, a lawyer who represents some of the plaintiffs, told the press just outside the Foreign Ministry building on Monday. "We will be filing a statement to the court to stop the deposit process for these plaintiffs.”

The ministry came up with the third-party compensation measure earlier this year to revitalize stalled relations with Japan.

A landmark ruling on the case came on Oct. 30, 2018, when the Korean Supreme Court ordered Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal, renamed Nippon Steel, to pay 100 million won ($76,460) each to Korean victims of Japanese forced labor. The Supreme Court made a similar ruling on Nov. 29, 2018 against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Japan protested the decision, claiming that all compensation issues related to its colonial rule were resolved with a treaty with Korea in 1965. In that deal, Japan give Korea $300 million in economic aid and $500 million in loans.

Korea’s top court acknowledged the illegality of Japan’s 1919-45 colonial rule and recognized that individuals' rights to compensation had not expired.

Both Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi refused to comply with the top court's decisions, and the victims had filed another case requesting the liquidation of assets of two Japanese companies to compensate forced labor victims. Relations between Tokyo and Seoul soured dramatically, the diplomatic spat descending into a tit-for-tat trade restrictions or even threats to pull out of bilateral security agreements.

As the Supreme Court in Korea mulled over the case, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul stepped in with its proposal of third-party compensation, by way of donations from Korean companies that benefitted from the Japanese loans. Posco, one of these companies, donated 10 billion won.

The proposal, made in early March, was accepted by 11 plaintiffs as of late May.

Some of the compensation money deposited by the ministry on Monday is for two relatives of the 11 plaintiffs who had earlier decided to take the third-party compensation.

“These two relatives are in certain personal situations that have barred them from taking the compensation money for now,” said the ministry official. “When they are ready, they will be able to make a withdrawal at their nearest deposit center to take their share.”

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