hankyoreh

A court in Busan has rejected a claim by six victims of the nuclear blast in Nagasaki, who were in the Japanese city as forced laborers for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, saying the statute of limitations has expired. The individuals were demanding 606 million won (US$615,000) in total compensation from Mitsubishi.

"Even if one recognizes all arguments made by the plaintiffs, they were injured in 1944 and 1945," said the court in its decision. "More than ten years have elapsed, so the statute of limitations for this civil case prohibits their claims from being heard."

The six Koreans were all forcibly sent to Japan between September and October of 1944 and worked in the machinery and shipbuilding sections at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries before being injured in the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 6 of the following year. They all eventually made it back to Korea, having not received aid or assistance.

"The statute of limitations in civil claims cases is merely intended to refuse those negligent in filing their cases. But Korea and Japan only established diplomatic relations in 1965, so how were [the victims] going to exercise their rights ten years after 1945?" asked one of their lawyers, Choe Bong-tae.

Hideki Yano, the director of a Japanese organization seeking to help Asian victims receive compensation for forced labor administered by the Japanese military, noted that an International Labor Organisation (ILO) committee "already found that one cannot apply the statute of limitations on the issue of forced labor and comfort women."

"The Japanese government’s top official responsible for international treaties said in August 1991 that the statute of limitations has not expired on these cases," said Yano. "I doubt the Korean court adequately considered that case."

The plaintiffs called the decision "very disappointing," and said they will appeal the verdict to the very end.

The Busan court did recognize that Korean courts have the right to try the case. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has long claimed that Korean courts do not have any jurisdiction; the company also claims that it closed its doors in 1950, and that the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that exists today was only reestablished in 1964, and therefore bears no legal responsibility in terms of the cases at hand. But the court noted that today’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries considers the earlier manifestation of the company to be part of its history.

The suit has garnered a lot of attention for being the first claim by Korean victims of forced labor by Japanese companies that has been heard in a Korean court. Two of the plaintiffs initially part of the lawsuit have died since their claims were filed in the case.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]