A court on Tuesday ruled in favor of a wartime forced labor victim who rejected the government's compensation plan and sought direct reparations from a Japanese company, in the first such ruling.
The Seoul District Court sided with the bereaved family of the late victim, Chung Chang-hee, and ordered MH Power Systems Korea, a local subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to pay 83 million won (US$57,600) in compensation.
In March 2023, the South Korean government proposed compensating more than a dozen victims of Japan's wartime forced labor through a Seoul-backed public foundation, instead of direct payments from responsible Japanese firms.
The plan aimed to settle the compensation issue for 15 Koreans who had won legal battles against two Japanese firms accused of mobilizing them for hard labor during World War II, when Korea was under Japan's brutal colonization.
Under the plan, the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization, affiliated with the interior ministry, would collect "voluntary" private sector donations.
Some victims and their families, however, opposed the plan, insisting on direct compensation from Japanese firms. Chung's family filed a lawsuit less than 10 days after the government's announcement.
Im Jae-sung, the family's legal representative, welcomed the ruling, thanking the court for "opening a way for people who oppose the anti-historical policy to receive compensation from Mitsubishi." (Yonhap)
