Japan to call in S. Korean ambassador over private firm asset seizure

TOKYO, Jan. 9 (Yonhap) -- The Japanese government will soon summon Seoul's top envoy in Tokyo to protest a court decision to seize assets of a Japanese company in South Korea, a diplomatic source said Wednesday.

Last year, South Korea's Supreme Court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to pay compensation to four South Koreans for their forced labor and unpaid work during World War II. Korea was under Japan's colonization at that time.

As the firm has refused to comply with the ruling, the plaintiffs requested asset seizure. A court in Pohang, southeast of Seoul, said Tuesday it has approved the petition.

Japan's foreign ministry plans to call in Ambassador Lee Su-hoon later Wednesday to deliver a formal protest message, the source said.

Japan is also reportedly seeking government-level consultations with South Korea on the matter.

Japanese officials have argued that all reparation-related issues tied with the 1910-45 colonial rule were settled in a 1965 state-to-state deal on bilateral normalizing diplomatic relations.

lcd@yna.co.kr
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