South Korea: Court orders seizure of Mitsubishi assets

A South Korean court has ordered the confiscation of Mitsubishi assets in the country because the Japanese industrial giant had used forced labor during World War II, according to the Yonhap news agency, the APE reports.

Relations between Japan and South Korea have been strained for decades due to Tokyo’s harsh colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.

Some 780,000 Koreans were forced to work by Japan during the 35-year occupation, according to Seoul figures, excluding women who had been sexually enslaved by Japanese troops.

In a landmark decision in 2018, the Supreme Court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay compensation to a handful of victims, but the Japanese company refused to implement the decision.

Earlier this month, the families of four surviving victims asked the court to seize shares in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in South Korea, according to Yonhap.

A court has acquitted them of ordering the seizure of about 850 million won ($ 725,000) worth of shares held by the Japanese company LS Mtron, a South Korean industrial machinery company, according to the same source.

This amount covers 80 of the 150 million won to be paid to each of the victims and (covers) the damages associated with late payment.

“We urge Mitsubishi to acknowledge the historic event, apologize and compensate the victims,” ​​said the law firm representing the applicants, according to Yonhap.

Japan says victims’ right to sue Japan was abolished by the 1965 Treaty, which re-established diplomatic relations between Seoul and Tokyo and included a $ 800 million reparations program in the form of grants, and cheap loans.