Move to get Mitsubishi’s assets sold amid SKorea-Japan fight
Posted Jul 16, 2019 12:59:19 AM.
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — Colonial-era Korean labourers are seeking a court’s approval for the sales of local assets of their former Japanese employer after it refused to comply with a court order to compensate them for forced labour decades ago.
The development comes amid growing tensions between South Korea and Japan. Tokyo recently tightened controls on high-tech exports to South Korea, a move Seoul believes is retaliation for the South Korean court rulings last year.
Japan says it is not retaliation.
Lawyers for Koreans who worked for one of the Japanese companies, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, during Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of Korea say they’ll soon ask a South Korean court to authorize the sales of some assets that South Korea has seized from Mitsubishi.
The assets are some of Mitsubishi’s trademark rights and patents.
The Associated Press
