A group of former South Korean soldiers and civilian workers of the Imperial Japanese Army, forced into laborer by the Soviet Union for years after World War II, sued the government Thursday for 300 million yen in unpaid wages and compensation.
In the suit, filed with the Tokyo District Court, 30 former internees and a relative of a deceased prisoner are seeking around 10 million yen each in compensation for forced labor in Siberia and other locations.
About 3,500 Koreans, who were treated as Japanese nationals during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, were among some 6 million Japanese soldiers and workers taken to Siberia by Soviet troops, according to the plaintiffs.