Japan Protests South Korean Court Ruling on Colonial-Era Workers

Japan’s Foreign Ministry summoned a senior diplomat from the South Korean embassy in Tokyo to protest a Supreme Court ruling that Japanese companies should pay compensation to Koreans conscripted to work for the firms during colonial occupation.

Hiroyuki Namazu, director-general for Asian and Oceanian Affairs, told the official Thursday that the South Korean court’s ruling against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Hitachi Zosen Corp the same day was a violation of a 1965 treaty and unacceptable, the ministry said in an email.