Back Print this page
Legalbrief   |   your legal news hub Friday 01 May 2026

Japan rejects Korean slave labour lawsuit

A Nagoya District Court in Japan has rejected a lawsuit brought by South Korean women who say they were forced to perform slave labour at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries munitions factory in Japan during World War II.

Presiding Judge Kunio Sakuma said the plaintiffs\' right to seek damages had lapsed under a 1965 agreement on wartime damages claims between Japan and South Korea, reports The Japan Times. The accord ruled out damages claims by individual South Koreans over wartime suffering caused by Japan. It offered a ‘final solution’ to the issue in the form of $500m in economic assistance granted to South Korea by Japan. Two other lawsuits demanding compensation from the state have been dismissed by the Supreme Court. Full report in The Japan Times