Does Japan firm’s Korean forced labour payout set an example? ‘Hitachi Zosen is betraying the nation’
- Critics say Hitachi Zosen’s depositing of funds earmarked for forced labour compensation with a Korean court breaks with Japan’s position on the issue
- Tokyo continues to instruct Japanese companies not to compensate claimants – even if it one day means the seizure of their assets in South Korea
A major Japanese company has been accused of “betraying the nation” after transferring funds earmarked as compensation for a victim of forced labour to a South Korean court, in defiance of a government directive.
The company, which was set up in 1881, built a variety of ships for the Japanese military immediately before and during the war, including minesweepers, landing craft and transport submarines.
South Korean’s Supreme Court last week upheld the lower court’s ruling and ordered Hitachi Zosen to pay the plaintiff 50 million won (US$38,150). With all legal challenges now exhausted, the plaintiff has indicated that he intends to collect the funds soon, his lawyer said.
Japan says Korean court upholding forced labour compensation ‘unacceptable’
But the proposal has been rejected by former forced labourers and their supporters in South Korea, who say the redress should be made by the Japanese companies directly and be accompanied by a clear apology for their suffering.
The Japanese government continues to instruct domestic companies not to provide compensation to claimants, even if it means their property and assets in South Korea are seized and liquidated. Though this has yet to happen, if it did it would likely cause another major rift between the two countries.
Critics of the Korean courts’ rulings say Hitachi Zosen’s decision to transfer funds weakens Japan’s position and sets a bad precedent for other companies.
“It appears that Hitachi Zosen has gone against the government’s directions and this can only be bad for other companies as it’s a precedent that is negative for their cases,” said Yoichi Shimada, a conservative academic at Fukui Prefectural University.
“If this is accurate, then Hitachi Zosen is betraying the nation, the government and the other companies.”
After the initial court rulings, a number of firms had considered paying the Korean plaintiffs to protect their business interests in South Korea, Shimada said, but the government intervened to convince them to resist the demands.
“Hitachi Zosen has broken that unity and that betrayal is deeply regrettable,” he said.
In South Korea, the reaction has been more positive, with Kim Sang-woo, a former politician with the left-leaning South Korean Congress for New Politics and now a board member at the Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation, calling the court’s decision a step forward.
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“It’s good to hear that the courts are making their own judgments in these cases rather than being pressured into a decision by their own government or another government,” he said.