South Korea court orders Japan firm to compensate wartime forced laborers

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp.'s Kimitsu steel plant is pictured at its exhibition hall in Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, May 31, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's top court ruled on Tuesday that Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. should compensate four South Koreans for their forced labor during World War Two when Japan occupied Korea, Yonhap reported. The Supreme Court ordered the company to pay 100 million won ($87,700) to each of the four plaintiffs. The court ruled that the former laborers' right to reparation was not terminated by a 1965 treaty normalizing diplomatic ties, rejecting the claim by Tokyo, Yonhap said. Japan occupied Korea from 1910-45. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Nick Macfie)