South Koreans sue govt over wartime labour at Japanese firms

Seoul

MORE than a thousand South Koreans sued the government on Thursday for compensation for forced labour for Japanese firms during World War II in a fresh twist to one of several historical disputes souring ties between the two countries.

Seoul and Tokyo have been struggling to contain fallout from a landmark ruling in October by South Korea's Supreme Court that Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal must compensate four South Korean forced labourers as their rights to reparations were not terminated by a 1965 treaty that normalised diplomatic ties.

Under the deal, South Korea received a package of US$300 million in economic aid and US$500 million in loans from Japan in exchange for Seoul considering all pre-treaty compensation issues settled. And the money was spent to rebuild its infrastructure and economy ravaged by the 1950-53 Korean War.

Similar verdicts in favour of the forced labourers followed suit, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in said last week that he respects the decision upholding their individual rights to compensation.

A group of 1,103 former forced labourers and their families said it had filed a lawsuit demanding the South Korean government provide 100 million won (S$122,000) to each of them in compensation because it had received funds from Japan.

The case adds to three suits previously raised since last year by a total of 283 victims and their families.

The foreign ministry declined to comment.

"The two governments signed the 1965 deal without asking a single forced labourer," Choi Yong-sang, who leads a victims'organisation and the latest suit, told reporters.

The two countries share a bitter history that includes Japan's 1910-45 colonisation of the Korean peninsula, the forced mobilisation of labour at Japanese companies and the use of comfort women, Japan's euphemism for girls and women, many of them Korean, forced to work in its wartime brothels.

The rows over wartime history have long been a hurdle for relations between the neighbours at a time when there is a need for concerted efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes.

More than 220,000 South Koreans have registered with the government as former forced labours since the issue came to a head following a 2005 release of some diplomatic cables in the run-up to the 1965 pact.

The government had offered "condolence funds" of up to 20 million won to the families of nearly 80,000 of them whom died overseas, went missing or were injured, but the remainder, including the 1,103, did not receive any money, they said.

"We're not saying the US$300 million aid was ours, but we believe it had the nature of compensation for forced labour and the government used it," said Park Jong-gang, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, citing undisclosed diplomatic cables.

Several surviving victims and around 300 members of bereaved families gathered at the conference, some donning traditional white hats saying "compensation" and others holding a banner reading "the government must compensate".

There are now about seven or eight survivors nationwide, according to the group.

Lee Won-soo, a 89-year-old survivor who said he worked at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at age 16, said he had almost given up on receiving an apology from Japan and any compensation.

"I thought I was going to die, crushed and left alone, as no one had ever bothered to comfort me for my suffering under Japanese rule," he told reporters. "But now I believe the world won't let it pass." REUTERS