South Korea's top court orders a 3rd Japanese company to compensate workers for forced labor

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} South Korea’s top court on Thursday ordered a third Japanese company to compensate some of its former wartime Korean employees for forced labor, the second such ruling in a week. Mitsubishi and another Japanese company, Nippon Steel, were previously given a similar compensation order by the South Korean court, but it was the first such ruling for Hitachi. But their ties began improving significantly in 2023 after South Korea's government, now led by conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, established a domestic fund to compensate forced labor victims without demanding Japanese contributions. Lim Soosuk, spokesperson of South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said the government would seek to provide compensation to the Korean plaintiffs related to Thursday’s ruling through the third-party reimbursement system as well.