Japan’s refusal to pay reparations contradictory to its attitude toward Chinese forced laborers
While the Japanese government and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Co. are protesting a ruling by South Korea’s Supreme Court that Koreans who were conscripted into forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule must be compensated, this reaction strikes some as a double standard, considering that Japanese companies have basically compensated some Chinese victims regardless of judicial rulings.
Though there are some calls for Japanese companies to apologize and provide compensation on a voluntary basis, the Japanese government’s hardline stance is likely to be an obstacle.
When Chinese victims of forced labor filed a lawsuit in China in 2014, Mitsubishi Materials (formerly Mitsubishi Mining) announced in 2016, two years later, that it would be settling with as many as 3,765 individuals by paying a sum of 100,000 yen (US$886) a person. Thus far, however, a settlement in the courts has only been reached with eleven individuals, and settlement negotiations are still underway with the rest of the former workers.
In 2010, Nishimatsu Construction made an apology and paid 128 million yen (US$1.1 million) to a Chinese NGO on behalf of 183 Chinese forced to work in Niigata Prefecture. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Japan had ruled against the plaintiffs in this case, while also expressing its hope that Nishimatsu Construction would make an effort to remedy the harm done.
When China normalized diplomatic relations with Japan in 1972, the two countries’ joint statement declared that, for the sake of amicable relations, the Chinese government forfeited its right to claim war reparations from Japan. Though Japanese companies cite this as a reason for denying legal responsibility, they have apologized and provided compensation to individuals out of court.
