More Korean victims sue Japanese firms for forced labor

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - More victims of Japan’s occupation of then united Korea between 1910 and 1945 are seeking damages for wartime forced labor from Japanese companies.

According to Yonhap news agency, at least four victims filed lawsuits against Japanese companies at a South Korean court in Seoul on Thursday.

Four Japanese companies including Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Coke & Engineering Co., have been accused of forced labor and inhuman treatment by Korean victims during the colonial occupation of their country.

The fresh appeal filed on behalf of the victims by “Democratic Society” and the “Center for Historical Truth and Justice” representing the Koreans, comes after a Korean court last year ruled in favor of the victims.

The court had asked two Japanese companies to compensate victims for the unpaid wages and harsh treatment.

“Each plaintiff in the fresh cases is seeking up to 100 million won (US$88,000) in damages,” the representatives of the two groups told a press conference in Seoul today.

However, Japan has refused to pay any compensation.

After liberation of Korean peninsula from Japanese rule in 1945, Tokyo and Seoul had agreed to a treaty in 1965.

Yonhap said that Tokyo has argued against compensation saying: "All compensation matters relating to the colonial period were settled under a 1965 treaty where it provided aid then valued at $300 million -- about $2.4 billion in today's money -- and wants the talks to be based on that agreement."

Japanese companies have turned down a proposal to solve the matter through mediation put forward by victims.

Narrating the ordeal during the colonial period, 102-year-old Kim Han-soo told reporters in Seoul today: "I feel something gushing out of me when I think now (about the past). It's one difficult matter -- why did we have to be taken by them and live like dogs and pigs?"