Nippon Steel may see seized S. Korean assets sold off

February 14, 2019

Seoul--A lawyer for South Korean plaintiffs in a South Korean wartime labor case hinted Thursday that they will start procedures to convert Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp.'s <5401> seized assets into cash by the end of February.

The lawyer said that the plaintiffs' side will visit Nippon Steel's headquarters in Tokyo on Friday to ask the company for talks.

If Nippon Steel refuses to hold discussions, the lawyer warned that the plaintiffs' side have no choice but to apply as soon as possible to the court for an order to sell the company's seized assets in South Korea.

The Japanese government upholds the position that the wartime labor issue has already been settled under a 1965 bilateral agreement on war-related claim rights.

At a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga criticized the possible conversion of the assets into cash, saying the situation is very serious.

In October last year, South Korea's Supreme Court ordered the major Japanese steelmaker to pay compensation to plaintiffs who claimed to have been forced to work in Japan during World War II, when the Korean Peninsula was under Japan's colonial rule.

Since a South Korean court accepted the plaintiffs' request to seize Nippon Steel's assets, the Japanese government had urged the South Korean government to hold bilateral talks in line with the 1965 pact.

The South Korean government, which has been delaying its response, may face further protests from the Japanese government as Nippon Steel may suffer real damage if the plaintiffs' side decide to start procedures to convert the assets into cash.

South Korean plaintiffs in a similar case against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. <7011> plan to hand a written request for talks to the company on Friday.

The plaintiffs' side said that they will start procedures to seize Mitsubishi Heavy assets in South Korea if it does not respond to their request for talks by the end of February.

Following a ruling by the Seoul High Court ordering Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. <6474> to pay compensation to South Korean plaintiffs in another wartime labor case, the plaintiffs revealed that they may start procedures for the seizure of assets to be executed provisionally before the top court ruling.

The plaintiffs said that it is clear Nachi-Fujikoshi has no intention of abiding by the verdict, as the Japanese machine tool maker has filed an appeal.

Meanwhile, a citizens' group held a press conference outside of the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Thursday and urged the Japanese companies to pay compensation to the plaintiffs. Jiji Press