A South Korean plaintiff in a wartime labor case against a Japanese firm, who had opposed South Korea's decision to compensate plaintiffs through a government-backed foundation instead of the sued Japanese companies, received payment from the foundation on Wednesday, it said.
Yang Geum Deok, 94, who worked in a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd factory in Japan during World War II, is one of the plaintiffs who won a lawsuit in 2018 over the company's use of forced labor.
She was at the forefront of opposition to the solution proposed by President Yoon Suk Yeol's government for the compensation issue. South Korea's relations with Japan deteriorated following 2018 Supreme Court rulings that ordered Mitsubishi Heavy and another company to pay damages for forced labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.
However, a South Korean civic group supporting plaintiffs in forced labor lawsuits said it is unclear why Yang, who is suffering from dementia and is currently hospitalized, and her family members changed their stance, though it has confirmed they accepted the compensation from the fund.
Japan has said all issues stemming from its colonization of the Korean Peninsula were settled "completely and finally" under a 1965 bilateral agreement.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Yang was the 12th person out of the 15 plaintiffs who won the forced labor cases in 2018 to accept compensation from the foundation.
Bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea have improved since Yoon's government announced a solution to the wartime labor issue in March 2023.
© KYODO
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