Japanese Government To Act If South Korea Forces Mitsubishi To Pay Reparations - Reports

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has said that the government would have to step in if any Japanese company suffers damage from a lawsuit initiated by South Koreans seeking compensation for colonial-era forced labor, local media said Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2019) Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has said that the government would have to step in if any Japanese company suffers damage from a lawsuit initiated by South Koreans seeking compensation for colonial-era forced labor, local media said Tuesday.

Kono spoke to reporters after the plaintiffs announced that they were going to sue Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to force it to sell some of its assets and use the money to issue compensation for damage caused by forced labor during the colonial period, which was in the first half of the 20th century.

The foreign minister said that Japan had been asking South Korea to fix the situation, NHK World reported.

Japan's official position regarding its former colonial holding is that the 1965 agreement resolved the issue of damages once and for all. From the Japanese point of view, the recent string of court rulings on that issue in South Korea goes against previous agreements between the two countries.