Nippon Coke ordered to compensate Korean workers for forced labor

A South Korean court ordered Nippon Coke and Engineering on Tuesday to compensate Korean victims for their forced labor at Japanese mines during World War II. The Gwangju District Court ordered the Japanese firm to pay compensation ranging from 13 million won (US$9,400) to 100 million won to each of 11 bereaved family members of seven people who were forced to work in the mines of Mitsui Mining Co., which was later renamed Nippon Coke and Engineering. The seven victims included the late Park Hun-dong, who was forcibly mobilized by Japanese police in the county of Hwasun while recovering from wounds he sustained during a forced two-year military term in North Manchuria for Japan. He was then forced to work in coal mines in Japan's Hokkaido under grueling cold and labor conditions, which resulted in him losing two fingers without treatment. Dormitory doors were locked from the outside to prevent workers' escape, while heavy labor was imposed with limited food. Park remained detained even after Korea' s national liberation on Aug. 15, 1945, and was only able to return home in January the following year. Since returning home, Park and the other victims suffered from lung diseases and other illnesses until their deaths. Korea was under Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. Source: Yonhap News Agency