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Nippon Steel Ordered to Pay ₩80 Million to Forced Labor Victim’s Family: Supreme Court Confirms

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Korea’s Supreme Court has confirmed a damages award against Nippon Steel Corporation in favor of the bereaved family of a wartime forced labor victim — and in doing so has resolved a key procedural question about when the statute of limitations began to run on such claims. Here are the key points.

Issue

Had the statute of limitations expired by the time the victim’s family filed suit — and if so, from what point in time should the limitation period be calculated?

Facts

  • The deceased, A, was forcibly transported to Japan and compelled to work as a laborer at the Kamaishi Steelworks in Iwate Prefecture, operated by the former Nippon Steel Corporation, from February 9 to July 14, 1942.
  • A escaped on July 14, 1942, spent time working in coal mines and elsewhere, returned to Korea in 1945, and died in April 1989.
  • A’s surviving family members filed suit against Nippon Steel Corporation, arguing the former company’s conduct was directly connected to Japan’s illegal colonial rule of the Korean peninsula and its war of aggression — constituting a crime against humanity — and that A suffered severe psychological harm. They sought ₩100 million in solatium.

Lower Court Decisions

  • The trial court dismissed the claim as time-barred, treating May 24, 2012 as the starting point for the three-year limitation period. That date marks the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling — in a related case — that forced labor compensation claims fall outside the scope of the Korea-Japan Claims Agreement and can therefore be pursued through litigation. The trial court found that the plaintiffs had filed more than three years after that date.
  • The appellate court reversed, setting October 30, 2018 as the correct limitation start date. It reasoned that the 2012 ruling alone was insufficient to confirm that forced labor victims could realistically obtain redress from Japanese corporations — the 2012 decision was a remand ruling that did not definitively establish the rights of the parties before it. Only the Supreme Court’s October 30, 2018 en banc decision (2013다61381) conclusively clarified the applicable legal position. Since the plaintiffs had filed on April 30, 2019 — within three years of that date — the claim was timely.

Supreme Court Decision

  • The Supreme Court (Civil Division 2, presiding Justice Oh Kyeong-mi) dismissed Nippon Steel’s appeal on August 12, 2026, confirming the appellate decision and the ₩80 million damages award.
  • The court found no error in the appellate court’s analysis of the limitation period.

The Limitation Period Question

The limitation issue in this case turns on the doctrine that a statute of limitations does not run while an objective legal impediment prevents the claimant from exercising their rights. The key question was when that impediment was removed.

The trial court held it was removed by the 2012 Supreme Court ruling, which first established that forced labor claims are not extinguished by the Claims Agreement.

The appellate court — confirmed by the Supreme Court — held this was insufficient. The 2012 decision was a procedural remand, not a final determination of the claimants’ substantive rights. The legal landscape remained genuinely uncertain until the 2018 en banc ruling definitively settled that forced labor victims’ compensation claims survive the Claims Agreement and can be enforced against Japanese corporations in Korean courts. Only from that point could claimants realistically be expected to exercise their rights, and only from that point did the limitation clock begin.

Key Takeaways

  • For forced labor compensation claims against Japanese corporations, the statute of limitations begins to run from October 30, 2018 — the date of the Supreme Court’s en banc ruling — not from the 2012 ruling that first recognized the theoretical availability of such claims.
  • The distinction between a remand ruling that establishes a legal principle and a final judgment that confirms the claimant’s rights is legally significant for limitation period purposes: only the latter removes the objective impediment to exercising the right.
  • Families of forced labor victims who filed suit within three years of October 30, 2018 — by October 30, 2021 — are within the limitation period. Those who filed later may face a more complex analysis.
  • This ruling follows the same doctrinal line as the Supreme Court’s broader jurisprudence on forced labor claims, confirming that the Claims Agreement does not bar individual compensation claims for crimes against humanity committed during colonial rule.

Why This Matters

This decision has significant practical implications for the many pending and potential forced labor compensation cases still working through Korean courts. By confirming the 2018 en banc ruling as the correct limitation start date, the Supreme Court has kept the litigation window open for families who filed within three years of that landmark decision — a meaningful protection for victims whose families may have been unable to file sooner. For practitioners handling forced labor cases, the ruling provides authoritative guidance on one of the most frequently contested procedural issues in this area of litigation.

Article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=224755

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