Forced labor victim accepts compensation from Japanese company for 1st time

▲ Bereaved families of South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor rejoice after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of them, in this file photo taken Dec. 28, 2023. (Yonhap)

forced labor victim-compensation

Forced labor victim accepts compensation from Japanese company for 1st time

SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Yonhap) -- The bereaved family of a South Korean victim of Japan's wartime forced labor on Tuesday received compensation from Hitachi Zosen Corp. in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling, marking the first such acceptance from a Japanese company.

The family withdrew 60 million won (US$44,830) from the Seoul Central District Court, which was earlier deposited by Hitachi Zosen as a kind of collateral, according to their lawyer.

The payment came after the Supreme Court last December upheld an appeals court's ruling that orders the Japanese company to pay 50 million won and delay interest for damages suffered by the victim, surnamed Lee, from forced labor at its shipyard during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.

Hitachi made the monetary deposit soon after the Seoul High Court made a decision to the same effect to the Supreme Court in January 2019. It was the first and only case in which a Japanese company involved in wartime forced labor has paid money to a South Korean court.

Thereafter, Lee's side has taken the due procedures to receive the deposit as compensation.

A number of South Korean forced labor victims and their bereaved families have won damages suits against Japanese companies, but any voluntary compensation payment from them had not been reported.

"This is the first time that money voluntarily paid by a Japanese company has been delivered to a victim of forced labor," said a lawyer for the Lee family. "It's meaningful that de facto compensation for some victims has been provided by a Japanese company."

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