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Top court upholds ruling ordering Nippon Steel to compensate family of late wartime forced laborer

Published: 11 Dec. 2025, 19:40

The Supreme Court in southern Seoul [NEWS1]

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling ordering Nippon Steel to pay compensation to the family of a late Korean forced into wartime labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.

It marked the top court's first ruling on cases involving forced labor victims filed since its landmark 2018 ruling that Japanese companies are liable for damages to such victims.

The top court upheld the order for Nippon Steel to pay 100 million won ($67,900) in compensation to the family of the Korean victim.

The latest ruling came after the four children of the late victim, Jeong Hyeong-pal, filed the lawsuit against Nippon Steel in 2019, seeking 200 million won in damages.

Jeong had said he was forced into labor at a steel mill in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, from 1940 to 1942.

The case underwent years of legal wrangling, with Nippon Steel arguing the statute of limitations had passed.

The statute of limitations for most civil claims is 10 years, but exceptions apply in the event there are "objective reasons that make it impossible to resolve an incapacity."

While a lower court sided against Jeong's family in 2021, an appellate court overturned the ruling last year, recognizing the 2018 Supreme Court decision as the point at which the statute-of-limitations obstacle was cleared and rejecting the Japanese company's claim.

Since the 2018 ruling, courts have ruled in favor of victims of forced labor in multiple cases.

Yonhap