国际英语资讯:Japan spurns request by S. Korea to hold talks on wartime labor dispute_时事

国际英语资讯:Japan spurns request by S. Korea to hold talks on wartime labor dispute

South Korea's top court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay compensation for the forced labor of the plaintiffs during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

A similar judgement was issued by the top court in South Korea for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to compensate two groups of South Koreans over wartime forced labor.

Other Japanese companies including, but not limited to Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp., have also been sued by South Korean plaintiffs claiming they or their family members were adversely affected by Japanese firms' forced wartime labor.

Japan, for its part, has claimed the rulings are not in line with international law and run contrary to the foundation of friendly and cooperative relations between the two neighbors since the 1965 normalization of diplomatic ties.

Japan maintains the matter of compensation for wartime labor was "finally and completely" resolved under the pact.

The foreign ministry here has claimed that Seoul has been reluctant to show willingness to advance talks on the matter with Tokyo through diplomatic channels and, hence, is seeking outside arbitration on the issue.

One Japanese advocate supporting the South Korean plaintiffs said, however, that the forced labor during the war by the Japanese companies in question had destroyed the lives of the laborers and as such the companies should admit their culpability and and apologize.