South Korea’s Top Court Dismisses Nippon Steel Appeal in Lawsuit over Requisitioned Worker

By Seidai Fujihara / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

16:36 JST, December 11, 2025

SEOUL — South Korea’s top court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by Nippon Steel Corp. in a lawsuit filed by people connected with a former requisitioned worker from the Korean Peninsula.

A high court decision that ordered the company to pay damages to the plaintiffs was finalized.

This is the first time since South Korean President Lee Jae Myung took office in June that a ruling has been finalized in a lawsuit related to South Korean people who were requisitioned to work in Japan during Japan’s colonial rule.

According to the Yonhap News Agency, Nippon Steel — then Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. — was ordered to pay 100 million won (¥10.6 million). The plaintiffs claimed that the former requisitioned worker was obliged to work at an ironworks in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, from 1940 to 1942.

A solution to the issue was announced in 2023. Under that solution, the South Korean government indicated that a foundation under the government would pay, on behalf of the defendant, an amount equivalent to the compensation to former requisitioned workers or their families who won lawsuits against Japanese companies.