"We will claim our justification through the lawsuit," Sakuma said, adding, "Even if by a remote possibility (we lose the suit), we should obey the law under any circumstances. We will do our best not to see that occur."

The elderly men lodged the suit against the Japanese firm in South Korea in 2005 after they lost a similar case in Japan. South Korean courts also dismissed their claims.

The shareholders meeting was held about one month after the Supreme Court quashed the lower courts' decisions and ordered a retrial. The court found that the Japanese court's decision was based on the disputable premise that its 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea was legal, which is contrary to the South Korean Constitution.

On Tuesday, the top court ordered the steelmaker to compensate the four South Koreans for wartime forced labor and unpaid work, ordering it to pay each plaintiff 100 million won ($87,720).

But it remained to be seen whether the Japanese company would accept the ruling and implement the compensation at a time the lawsuit has become a diplomatic row.

Responding to Tuesday's ruling, the steelmaker reiterated its claim that the ruling is inconsistent with the judgment of the Japanese judiciary system, saying it will carefully review the court's decision in considering its next steps and consider the Japanese government's responses on this matter.

Asked about its stance on Sakuma's remarks, an official at the company shied away from answering directly, saying that as the ruling is a Seoul-Tokyo diplomatic issue, the company will review the it precisely and react to it in consideration of the Japanese government's countermeasures.

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono said publicly the situation was "very regrettable and totally unacceptable." He reaffirmed Japan's position that the compensation issue was fully settled in the 1965 bilateral accord on normalizing the countries' diplomatic ties.

He warned that his administration is considering "every option," including taking the case to an international court. (Yonhap)