South Korea's Supreme Court has said it will rule on a forced labor case involving Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. on Nov. 29, following a top court ruling last month that ordered another Japanese firm to compensate a group of South Koreans over wartime labor.
The Mitsubishi Heavy case involves five plaintiffs to each of whom a high court ordered the company in 2013 to pay 80 million won ($71,000) because they were forced into labor in Japan. They claim that they were exposed to radiation from the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima as a result.
Mitsubishi Heavy has appealed the ruling.
On Oct. 30 the top court upheld a lower court ruling that ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to compensate four South Koreans for being forced to work for the company during World War II.
The Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945.
The court decision has prompted sharp reactions from the Japanese government, which maintains that the issue of compensation was settled under a 1965 bilateral accord.
The South Korean government has expressed concern over Japan's reactions to the ruling, saying Japanese leaders are "not concerned about the root of the problem" and are "continuing to speak out (in ways that) stimulate our national feelings."