hankyoreh

Lee Ja-sun (fourth from left) and Jeon Ok-nam (fifth from left), two survivors of Japan’s wartime forced labor, speak on the issue of forced labor mobilization at a community center in Bupyeong District, Incheon, in September of 2019. (Lee Jung-ha/The Hankyoreh)

Jeon Ok-nam, a victim of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period, passed away on Thursday at the age of 92, a council advocating for compensation for victims of the Pacific War stated.

Born in Masan, South Gyeongsang Province, in May 1930, Jeon was a 14-year-old student at a school in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, when she was forcibly mobilized to work at the Toyama factory location of the Japanese munitions company Fujikoshi, where she made bearings, in 1944.

Even though she suffered a serious injury while working that resulted in her nearly losing a finger, she had to keep on toiling at the factory. After Korean independence, she made it back to her hometown after much difficulty, but she never received a penny for her labor.

The deceased sued Fujikoshi for damages at the Toyama District Court in 2003. However, she lost the suit due to the court ruling that individuals’ right to claim damages was nullified through the South Korea-Japan Treaty on Basic Relations. The deceased filed another suit at a South Korean court in 2013, winning her case in January 2019 at the Seoul High Court. However, she passed away without having seen the verdict implemented.

Among the plaintiffs of the case, five including Jeon have passed away, with only nine victims of forced labor still surviving.

The wake for Jeon is being held at the Incheon Medical Center’s funeral hall, and her coffin will be borne out at 5:30 am on Saturday.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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