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There has been another court ruling ordering a Japanese company to pay compensation to victims of forced mobilization during the Japanese colonial period.
The 10-1 Civil Appeals Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Kim Hye-jin, Jung Do-sung, and Zegal Chang) ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in part today (Oct. 20), maintaining the same outcome as the first trial, in a damage suit filed by five victims, including a person surnamed Heo, against Mitsubishi Materials (formerly Mitsubishi Mining).
The court ordered Mitsubishi Materials to pay approximately 27 million won to Heo and about 18 million won to each of the remaining four victims.
This amounts to a total order of approximately 99 million won to be paid to the five individuals.
The court's decision appears to follow the spirit of the Supreme Court's 2018 full bench ruling and its 2023 small bench ruling, consistent with other damage lawsuits filed by victims of forced mobilization.
In October 2018, the Supreme Court full bench dismissed the argument that the victims' claims for damages had expired through the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement.
Instead, it specified that the claims restricted by this agreement do not include claims arising from illegal relations, such as claims for compensation by victims of forced mobilization.
Later, in a ruling in December 2023, the Supreme Court also clarified the standards for the statute of limitations.
It determined that until the October 2018 full bench ruling acknowledging the victims' rights to claim damages, there was an "objective impediment preventing victims from exercising their rights."
This means that the statute of limitations applies starting from the time of the 2018 ruling.
Consequently, the Japanese company's argument that the statute of limitations had expired, thereby releasing it from liability for compensation, was not accepted in the lawsuit.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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