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S. Korean victims of Japan's forced labor calls for rapid trial for "war criminal" companies

Xinhua, November 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korean victims of Japan's forced labor during World War II on Tuesday held a rally in central Seoul, calling for the rapid opening of the trial against Japan's "war criminal" companies.

Tens of victims of Japan's forced labor and their bereaved families from the Asia Victims of the Pacific War Family of the Deceased Association of Korea gathered in front of the Seoul Central District Court buildings.

The victims' association told a press conference that the South Korean court should open a trial in the absence of Japan's war criminal companies as the firms have failed to attend the trail for nearly two years.

In April this year, the association gathered 1,004 South Korean forced labor victims and their bereaved families to file the largest-ever class-action lawsuit against the Japanese companies.

The victims, who were forced into hard labor for Japan's war munitions factories during the devastating war, sued about 70 Japanese firms, including Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, for unpaid wages and damages, demanding a total of about 100 billion won (90 million U.S. dollars) in damages.

In April last year, the number of victims participating in the class-action lawsuit was 252.

According to the association, the South Korean court notified it of opening the trail from June next year to make a sentence on it by October next year.

The association urged the court to immediately open the trail in the absence of Japanese companies to conclude the case as soon as possible.

At least 700,000 young Koreans were lured into hard labor by the Japanese companies, which lied that they would be allowed to go to school in return for work during the 1910-45 Japanese colonization of the Korean peninsula.

Japan's war criminal enterprises have insisted that the damages claim was settled in a 1965 treaty that normalized diplomatic ties between South Korea and Japan, but the South Korean victims said that individual right to claim damages should be treated separately from the inter-governmental agreement. Endit