Forced mobilization by a Japanese company at the age of 12... 2nd trial: “80 million won must be compensated”

Victim's family wins partial damages award against Fujikoshi

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Young-seop = Another ruling was made that Japanese companies must compensate victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period.

According to the legal community on the 7th, Civil Appeal Division 11-2 of the Seoul Central District Court (Chief Judge Kwak Hyeong-seop and Jeon Seo-young and Sentencing Kwon) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the damages lawsuit filed by the late Seo against Fujikoshi, a Japanese machine tool and parts company, as in the first trial.

Fujikoshi must compensate Seo 80 million won.

From March to August 1945, when she was 12 years old, Seo was forcibly mobilized to Fujikoshi and worked as a member of the Korean Women's Volunteer Corps to make airplane parts.

He filed a lawsuit seeking damages in 2020 and died in May 2024 before the first trial verdict was issued. The lawsuit was taken over by the child.

Fujikoshi argued that domestic courts had no jurisdiction over this case and that Seo's right to claim damages was extinguished by the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Agreement.

In November 2024, the first trial rejected all these claims and ruled in favor of Mr. Seo.

The court ruled that although Fujikoshi is a Japanese corporation, domestic courts have jurisdiction, taking into account the fact that Mr. Seo is being held responsible for illegal acts based on the Civil Code of the Republic of Korea, and the content of the case is closely related to Korea's history and political changes.

Seo's claim was also recognized, citing the 2018 Supreme Court unanimous decision that the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Agreement does not limit claims arising from illegal relationships such as forced mobilization.

The first trial pointed out, “At a young age, the deceased applied to the Volunteer Labor Corps and engaged in labor through systematic deception by the Japanese government and Fujikoshi without proper knowledge of the working environment he would face in Japan, the specific details of the work he would do, and the treatment he would receive.”

“Fujikoshi significantly suppressed the freedom of the deceased and made him engage in forced labor, which constituted an anti-humanitarian illegal act directly related to the Japanese government’s illegal colonial rule and war of aggression against the Korean Peninsula and Koreans at the time,” it continued.

Fujikoshi's side appealed, but the second trial court maintained the ruling, saying, "Even if we review the evidence submitted in the first and second trials together, the first trial's findings of fact and judgment are justified."