Appellate court rejects A-bomb victims' suit against Mitsubishi

BUSAN, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean court on Tuesday rejected an appeal
filed against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. by South Koreans affected by
atomic bombing of Japan during World War II while forcibly working for the
Japanese company.
The Busan High Court said it agreed with a lower court ruling in 2007 that
rejected the suit, citing the 10-year statute of limitations.
Five plaintiffs filed a collective suit in 2000 against the Japanese company,
seeking compensation and payment of withheld salaries totaling 660 million won
(US$475,000). They were mobilized as forced laborers during the war, as Korea was
then under Japanese colonial rule, and suffered physical damage from exposure to
atomic bombing by the United States in 1945.
The case was the first to be heard in a South Korean court involving compensation
from a Japanese company for its wartime activities. Similar suits filed with
Japanese courts were all rejected.
The court battle in South Korea was prolonged by a nearly five year suspension
due to blocked access to pertinent documents.
The Busan court said it saw no grounds to overturn the rulings handed down in
Japan. "Even if South Korea can apply its own laws on the case, the statute of
limitations has already expired," it said.
Defense lawyers immediately protested, saying they intend to take the case to the
Supreme Court.
"I don't understand why they dragged out the case for nine years if the ending
was going to be like this," said Lee Geung-mok, one of the plaintiffs.
Records show Japan mobilized hundreds of thousands of Koreans to work at coal
mines and military facilities in and outside of Japan in the later years of its
1910-1945 colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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