The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday rejected a damages suit over unpaid wages filed by the kin of four deceased South Koreans who were forced to work at a steel mill in northern Japan during the war, upholding a lower court ruling.
The relatives had demanded the state pay 20 million yen in damages for each of the four people denied their wages.
As in the Tokyo District Court ruling last October, the high court rejected the request on the grounds that the 1965 Japan-South Korea agreement that normalized bilateral diplomatic ties nullified property claims by South Koreans who were forced to work in wartime Japan.
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