News

There has been a new development in a wartime labor lawsuit in South Korea against Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. A South Korean court has deemed that the company has received documents related to the sale of assets seized from it.

The issue stems from a ruling by South Korea's Supreme Court in November 2018. It ordered Mitsubishi Heavy to pay compensation to South Koreans who said they or their relatives were forced to work for the firm during World War Two.

A long-running wartime labor lawsuit in South Korea against a Japanese company appears to be entering a new phase. The case has damaged relations between the two countries. A court order that took effect on Tuesday could widen that rift by allowing assets to be seized from Nippon Steel.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide said, "The Supreme Court ruling and the related legal procedures are clearly breaching international law."

Japan's government says it will keep all options open, in response to South Korea's moves to sell off the assets of a Japanese firm due to a wartime labor lawsuit.

A South Korean court said that as of Tuesday, legal procedures to notify the Japanese side of the asset seizure order were deemed complete.

Japan's Defense Ministry plans to open a wartime underground bunker in Tokyo to the public.

The bunker was built by the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army during World War Two to prepare for air raids. It is located on what is now the ministry premises in the Tokyo district of Ichigaya.