By Kim Yoo-chul
Foreign ministers from South Korea and Japan exchanged differing opinions Wednesday, on a court ruling the previous day ordering a Japanese firm to compensate South Koreans for wartime forced labor.
Seoul's foreign ministry said Minister Kang Kyung-wha expressed the country's hopes to maintain the solid bilateral partnership to her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono despite Monday's ruling by the Supreme Court in South Korea.
"The foreign ministry respects the court's decision. Based on rationale that had been reviewed by the court over the decision, the ministry plans to apply additional measures, if necessary, to take on Japan's claim about the issue," Kang told her Japanese counterpart in a phone conversation, according to a foreign ministry official.
"Kang and Kono also discussed ways to step up efforts in advancing forward-looking bilateral relations," the official added.
The Supreme Court ordered Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal to pay 400 billion won ($350,000) in compensation to each of the victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation.
Japan was upset by Monday's court decision. Tokyo said it will consider applying "every option," including bringing the issue to an international court depending on how Seoul reacts.
The Japanese government has insisted that the right of the victims of wartime forced labor to seek compensation was terminated under a 1965 bilateral treaty signed between the two countries.
The latest court order implies companies involved in similar lawsuits may face the same results. Among the other Japanese companies that have lost cases in lower courts in South Korea are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hitachi Zosen.
Historical grievances continue to cast a pall over Seoul's efforts to improve its relations with Tokyo. Japan still has been reluctant to admit to elements of the creation and operation of "comfort women," who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels before and during World War II.
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