korean: The ruling was contrary to South Korean Supreme Court rulings in 2018 that had ordered two Japanese companies to compensate South Korean plaintiffs for wartime forced labor, according to The Japan Times. Presiding Judge Kim Yang-ho said that while the plaintiffs have not lost their right to claim damages as individuals under a 1965 claims settlement agreement signed alongside a treaty normalizing ties between the two countries, such a right cannot be exercised through lawsuits. According to one judicial source, what lay behind those rulings, which dismissed Korean plaintiffs' demand for damages from Japanese government and corporations, was judges' personal conviction that is unrestrained by the political winds of the day. ; On Monday, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed a damages lawsuit brought against 16 Japanese companies by 85 plaintiffs and their bereaved families who say they were made to work for them during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The decision was in line with the Japanese government's position that the issue of compensation was resolved finally and completely by the bilateral agreement, under which Japan provided South Korea with 300 million in grants and 200 million in loans. The court went so far as to say that Japan's economic cooperation provided under the 1965 accord greatly contributed to South Korea's economic growth. The ruling said that if a compulsory execution for compensation follows a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, and if an international court subsequently rules against South Korea over the case, that would damage the country's relations with Japan and the United States, and its national security.
(news.financializer.com). As
reported in the news.
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