Supreme Court confirms cancellation of 2021 court ruling against forced labor victims

▲ This composite image depicts South Korean victims of wartime forced labor in Japan. (Yonhap)

forced labor victims-court

Supreme Court confirms cancellation of 2021 court ruling against forced labor victims

SEOUL, March 26 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court has upheld the cancellation of a 2021 ruling by a district court that rejected a collective damages suit launched by South Korean victims of wartime forced labor in Japan against Japanese companies, judicial officials said Thursday.

The case dates back to June 2021, when the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the damages suit filed by 85 forced labor victims and their families against 16 Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, saying the plaintiffs don't have litigation rights. The plaintiffs started the suit in 2015.

But the ruling caused a controversy as it was in sharp contrast to an October 2018 decision from the Supreme Court, which upheld an appeals court ruling in 2013 that ordered Nippon Steel to pay each of four Korean plaintiffs 100 million won (US$66,400) in compensation for their wartime forced labor and unpaid work.

Some of the victims appealed, and the Seoul High Court overturned the ruling in February 2024 based on the Supreme Court's 2018 decision, sending the case back to the district court.

Mitsubishi and another Japanese company named Hokkaido Colliery & Steamship filed an appeal against the Seoul High Court's decision, but the Supreme Court sided with the appellate court on Feb. 12, according to the judicial officials.

Accordingly, the case will be retried at the Seoul Central District Court.

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