SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's top court on Wednesday finalized a ruling ordering Japan's Nippon Steel Corp. to pay a total of 80 million won (about 56,440 U.S. dollars) in compensation to the bereaved family of a late South Korean victim who was forced into labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling and reaffirmed its precedent that Japanese companies cannot claim the expiration of the statute of limitations for crimes committed during the colonization.
Under the country's civil act, claims for damages generally expire three years from the date a victim becomes aware of the illegal act, or 10 years from the date the act actually took place.
Japanese companies insisted that the statute of limitations had expired, but the Supreme Court's full-bench ruling in October 2018 recognized the right of victims to seek individual damages from Japanese companies as the statute of limitations only starts when obstacles preventing victims from exercising their rights are removed.
In April 2019, the victim's surviving children filed a civil lawsuit seeking 100 million won (about 70,550 dollars) in compensation from Nippon Steel.
The victim, surnamed Min, was forcibly mobilized and taken to the Japanese firm's steel works in February 1942, at the age of 21.
After enduring harsh working conditions for about five months, he managed to escape the plant but subsequently moved between coal mines before returning to his homeland following the peninsula's liberation in 1945. He passed away in 1989.
Speaking to reporters outside the top court in Seoul following the final ruling, the victim's son urged Nippon Steel to accept the ruling, issue a formal apology, and provide prompt compensation, according to Yonhap news agency.
Despite a series of final rulings against it, the Japanese company continued to refuse voluntary compliance, delaying actual financial restitution, Yonhap noted. ■