Court orders seizure of Nippon Steel's assets for compensation of wartime forced laborers
Japanese and Korean civic activists and lawyers visit Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal headquarters in Tokyo, holding pictures of deceased wartime forced laborers, Nov. 12, calling for a speedy compensation in line with the top Korean court's ruling. / Yonhap
By Lee Suh-yoon
An assets seizure order against Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal (NSSM) for withholding compensation from wartime forced laborers went into effect Wednesday, following the filing of confiscation documents with NSSM's joint venture company in Pohang.
A local court ordered the confiscation of NSSM's assets in Korea, Jan. 3, following a request from the plaintiff's legal team made earlier, after the Japanese steelmaker failed to follow a top court ruling made in October for it to compensate four wartime forced laborers
The court's order is likely to further chill the already-strained relations between the two countries over multiple issues mostly regarding atrocities committed during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.
In a landmark victory, four wartime forced laborers, only one of whom is still alive, won a compensation suit against the Japanese steelmaker Oct. 30. The Supreme Court ordered the firm to pay each victim 100 million won ($88,000) in unpaid wages for their work in its steel mills during World War II.
The steelmaker refused to comply, prompting the plaintiffs to file for the forcible seizure of its assets in Korea. The Daegu District Court accepted the request to freeze the firm's 81,075 shares in PNR, a joint venture with Korean steelmaker POSCO in the southeastern city of Pohang, worth around 400 million won. The NSSM currently owns 2.3 million shares in PNR.
NSSM said it would consult with the Japanese government on its response to the asset freeze, according to Japanese media.
Tokyo has maintained the forced labor reparation issue was fully settled by a 1965 treaty normalizing diplomatic ties between the two countries. Korea's Supreme Court, on the other hand, said in its ruling that the treaty did not remove the right of individuals to press charges for wrongs done to them.
Japan reacted to the decision by summoning Seoul's top envoy in Tokyo to protest the court's move. It also plans to initiate bilateral talks with the government based on the 1965 treaty.
If the talks fail to settle the issue, it plans to call in a third-party mediator or appeal to the International Court of Justice, according to the media outlets.
Shortly after the decision, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said his government would take “immediate measures” if NSSM was subject to any “disadvantages.”
The media outlets also reported that Tokyo was also discussing eye-for-eye measures such as confiscating Korean government assets in Japan.
The plaintiffs' legal team said they were waiting for last-minute negotiations with NSSM.
“We have yet to go through the process of liquidating NSSM's PNR stock,” said Kim Se-eun, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers. “If we reach a deal with NSSM, we won't have to take that final step.”
The landmark ruling in October, allegedly delayed for years due to the biggest judiciary power abuse scandal in the nation's history, paved the way for more compensation lawsuits by other victims. The top court also ruled in favor of five wartime forced laborers in a separate compensation suit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries the following month.