Hundreds of S. Koreans sue govt over wartime labor at Japan firms

Hundreds of South Koreans have sued the government for compensation over their forced labor at Japanese firms during World War Two, their representatives said on Thursday. Seoul and Tokyo have been struggling to contain fallout from a ruling in October by South Korea’s Supreme Court that Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp must compensate four South Korean forced laborers as their rights to reparations were not terminated by a 1965 treaty that normalized diplomatic ties. Under the deal, South Korea received around $800 million in economic aid and loans from Japan in exchange for Seoul considering all pre-treaty compensation issues settled, Reuters said. A group of 1,103 former forced laborers and their families said it filed a lawsuit in a Seoul court on Wednesday, demanding the South Korean government provide 100 million won ($88,500) to each of them in compensation because it had received funds from Japan. The case adds to three suits previously raised by a total of 283 victims and their families.