A Serious Threat to the Japan–Korea Relationship

A legal saga spanning a century is setting two U.S. allies against each other

Kim Sung-joo (bottom C), a victim of forced labor by Japan during its colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, and relatives of other victims arrive at the Supreme Court in Seoul on Nov. 29, 2018. South Korea's top court on Nov. 29 ordered a Japanese heavy industries giant to pay compensation over forced wartime labor, despite a previous 1965 settlement. JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images

On Oct. 30, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea (ROKSC) confirmed a prior decision in a World War II forced labor court case against Japanese company Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. This decision could catastrophically damage the relationship between Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK), two close allies of the United States.

Japan occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945. Throughout the colonial period, Japanese companies employed Korean workers. These workers were promised pay at a scheduled rate. However, some of these wages were not paid, particularly after Japan’s government ordered the companies to turn over the pay into a central fund.