hankyoreh

Choi Bong-tae

After Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a company that was complicit in Japanese war crimes during World War II, refused a third request to negotiate a resolution to the issue of compensating Korean victims of forced labor, the victims have decided to go ahead and liquidate the company’s assets in South Korea.

“We consider it deeply regrettable that all our efforts to find a reasonable, dialogue-based way to develop relations between South Korea and Japan have come to nothing. We will submit a request for an order to sell off Mitsubishi’s assets,” attorneys for the victims said on July 16. During the colonial occupation, the victims had been members of what was euphemistically called the Korean Women’s Volunteer Labor Corps.

On June 21, the attorneys had informed Mitsubishi in writing that, if the company did not express its willingness to deliberate by July 15, they would take steps to sell off assets seized from the company.

The attorneys are planning to initiate the liquidation process shortly, a process that involves asking the court to issue a sale order and, once that order is granted, auctioning off the seized assets. The victims have seized two domestic trademarks and six patents formerly held by Mitsubishi, which are worth 800 million won (US$677,544).

In November 2018, the South Korean Supreme Court ordered Mitsubishi to pay damages ranging from 100 to 150 million won (US$84,697-127,045) to Yang Geum-deok and other victims of forced labor and their surviving family members. While the attorneys have repeatedly put off the liquidation, asking Mitsubishi to participate in deliberations on three occasions (January, February, and June), the company repeatedly refused to take part in the negotiations.

“Given the advanced age of the victims, who are more than 90 years old, the legal process cannot be delayed any further,” the attorneys said, outlining their position. Kim Jung-gon, 95, who had been awarded damages by the Supreme Court, passed away in January, followed by Sim Seon-ae, 89, in February, as she was waiting for the results of an additional lawsuit pending in the Supreme Court. Another victim of forced labor died on July 14: Lee Yeong-suk, 89, had been preparing yet another lawsuit at the Gwangju District Court.

Mitsubishi maintains the position that “the question of compensation was resolved in the claims agreement reached by South Korea and Japan.” The company reaffirmed this position during a general meeting of stockholders on June 27, and when it lost a separate damages lawsuit filed by an individual surnamed Hong, the relative of a late victim of forced labor, on July 15, the company filed an appeal with the Seoul High Court. The legal team plans to find other plaintiffs and attorneys to take part in more lawsuits against the Japanese government.

On Tuesday, the Korean Bar Association held a meeting with Japanese reporters explaining the purpose of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Kim Se-eun, an attorney representing the victims of forced labor, fielded a question by a Japanese reporter about whether Japan’s export controls on semiconductor components had impacted the decision to request a court order for the asset sale. “We’re simply moving forward with the compulsory execution process in line with the ruling; our decision about what to do isn’t determined by Japan’s [export controls],” Kim said.

In a related development, Kyodo News reported that Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said during a press conference on Tuesday that the Japanese government would “devise the necessary measures in the event that Japanese companies suffer any damage,” referring to the possibility of Mitsubishi’s assets being sold off.

“We will strongly ask the South Korean government to take action to ensure [that Japanese companies aren’t harmed],” Kono said.

By Jang Ye-ji, staff reporter, and Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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