South Korea's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld lower court decisions ordering Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. to pay damages to South Koreans over wartime labor.
The ruling comes after the top court last month ordered the company and two other Japanese firms to compensate victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The rulings were issued amid an improvement in Japan-South Korea relations since Seoul announced a plan in March last year to resolve the wartime labor compensation issue.
Bilateral ties deteriorated after the top court in late 2018 upheld orders in separate judgments against Nippon Steel, then named Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. requiring that they pay damages for forced labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.
Japan has said all issues stemming from its colonization of the Korean Peninsula were settled "completely and finally" under a 1965 bilateral agreement.
Responding to the latest ruling, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a press release that it was "extremely regrettable and totally unacceptable," and Tokyo had lodged a protest with Seoul.
The plaintiffs in Thursday's case are family members of a South Korean man, who the court said was forced to work in poor conditions and was not paid at a factory of the steelmaker during World War II. He died in 2012.
In November 2018, an appeals court upheld a lower court order for the steelmaker to pay 100 million won ($76,000) to the plaintiffs.
Seoul said in March last year that plaintiffs who have won lawsuits over forced labor during colonial rule would receive compensation from a South Korean government-backed foundation rather than the sued firms.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for another group of plaintiffs, who won a forced labor case against major Japanese firm Hitachi Zosen Corp. at the top court last month, said the plaintiffs had asked the Seoul Central District Court the previous day to seize money deposited by the firm.
The money was deposited to the court to prevent the company's assets in South Korea from being seized and liquidated to compensate the plaintiffs.
If the court complies with the request, it would be the first time funds from a Japanese company have been transferred to a plaintiff.
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South Korea top court upholds wartime labor rulings against Japan firms
South Korea's top court upholds wartime labor damages order for Japan firms
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