Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday urged Seoul to take steps to ensure a court ruling ordering compensation for wartime forced labor does not affect Japanese businesses and indicated that Tokyo will take the case to the international stage if necessary.
"To manage difficult issues between the two countries, South Korea's efforts are indispensable. We strongly expect the South Korean government to take positive measures against the ruling," Abe said during a meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee.
South Korea's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court decision that ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to compensate four South Koreans who were victims of forced labor during Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.