Two relatives of victim of Japanese forced labor accept government compensation

Two relatives of a forced labor victim received the Korean government-arranged compensation on Wednesday, said the Foreign Ministry in Seoul. “The two relatives of a forced labor victim who had formerly agreed to receive the compensation...

Relatives of forced labor victims who refused to take Korean government-arranged compensation speak at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday. The relatives spoke against the recent Foreign Ministry's decision to deposit the compensation money they refused at local courts. [YONHAP]

Two relatives of a forced labor victim received the Korean government-arranged compensation on Wednesday, said the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.

“The two relatives of a forced labor victim who had formerly agreed to receive the compensation money but couldn’t be contacted were finally reached,” said the ministry in a statement. “They received the compensation money as of Wednesday.”

A total of 15 plaintiffs — a mix of surviving victims and their relatives — had sued Japanese companies Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for compensation for their forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese annexation of Korea.

Their suits had led to a landmark ruling by the Korean Supreme Court in October and November of 2018, when the court ordered the two Japanese companies to pay 100 million won ($77,605) to each Korean victim.

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 gave 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 tit-for-tat trade restrictions and 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.

Four plaintiffs — two of whom survive today — of the 15 have refused to take the third-party compensation arranged by the Korean government.

The two relatives who took the third-party compensation money on Wednesday were relatives of a single plaintiff who passed away, but whose relatives had already expressed their decision to take the government-arranged compensation.

All pertinent relatives of the plaintiff had been reached before, except two. These two were then reached by the ministry and paid the compensation money arranged by the Korean government on Wednesday.

The four plaintiffs refusing the third-party compensation have been engaged in a row with the Korean government, as the Foreign Ministry moved to deposit the compensation money to local courts.

Legal representatives of some of these plaintiffs have told the press that the government action to deposit the money could jeopardize the plaintiffs’ right to claim compensation money from Japanese companies should the Supreme Court decide to liquidate the assets of these companies to pay the victims.

Local courts have dismissed the ministry’s requests to deposit the money, much to the ministry’s protest.

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