South Korean Lee Chun-sik, center, a 94-year-old victim of forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II, arrives at the Supreme Court in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2018 (AP photo by Lee Jin-man).
In South Korea, a Supreme Court Decision Opens Up Deep Historical Wounds
Elliot Waldman Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018
Japan’s relations with its neighbors have long been haunted by residual acrimony over atrocities and human rights abuses committed by the Empire of Japan during World War II. Politicians in China and South Korea maintain that Japan never properly atoned for its imperial transgressions, rankling Japanese officials.
Those historical issues returned to center stage in recent weeks, due to a long-running case before the South Korean Supreme Court in which four Korean men sought damages from a major Japanese steelmaker that forced them to work without pay during World War II. On Oct. 30, the court ruled that the defendant, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., must pay roughly $88,000 in damages to each of the four plaintiffs. ...