Japan says it will never accept Korean court’s ruling

As a Korean court ordered Nippon Steel (formerly New Nippon Steel) on Thursday to sell its assets in Korea in connection with a lawsuit seeking compensation for Korean slave laborers during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea, the Japanese government has protested, saying “We cannot accept.”

According to the Daily Yomiuri on Friday, the Japanese foreign ministry lodged a complaint against the Korean government through diplomatic channels, and demanded a proper measure, saying, “We can never accept the order.” A ranking official at the Japanese foreign ministry was quoted by the daily as saying, “The Korean court’s ruling constitutes a violation of the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and Korea, and we will continue demanding corrective measures for the illicit decision.”

”We deeply regret the decision. It is our understanding that the issue of forced laborers in the past was completely and irreversibly resolved through the treaty” Nippon Steel also told the media on Thursday. “We will properly cope with the issue in tandem with the situation in diplomatic negotiations between the two governments,”

It is the second time a Korean court has ordered a Japanese company to sell its assets in Korea in connection with slave laborers after Mitsubishi Heavy Industry in September last year.


abro@donga.com