Seoul Wants Tokyo to Respond Carefully to Wartime Labor Rulings

December 12, 2018

Seoul--Seoul on Wednesday asked Tokyo to respond carefully to recent South Korean Supreme Court rulings ordering Japanese companies to compensate for wartime labor, according to South Korean government officials.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha made the request in telephone talks with her Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono.

During the talks, Kang explained the South Korean government's position on the rulings, which demand compensation for what South Korean plaintiffs claim as forced labor during World War II.

Kono and Kang exchanged views frankly on bilateral issues, including those related to such workers, Japanese sources said.

South Korea's top court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. <7011> and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. <5401>, on Nov. 29 and Oct. 30, respectively, to pay compensation for labor by Korean workers requisitioned during the war. At that time, the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule.

Japan's position is that a treaty concluded when it normalized its diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1965 finally resolved all problems related to property and claims between the two countries. Jiji Press