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Nearly eight decades after leaving the steel mills of Japan, Lee Chun-sik is still moved to tears by the memory of the beatings, burns and hard labor that he has endured.
He left his homeland, South Korea, a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945, while he was only 17 years old, because of the promise of a training course. engineer. But when he arrived in Kamaishi in 1941, he was a virtual prisoner. Lee says he was beaten by Japanese guards when they were not happy with his work, for which he had never been paid.
"I can not think back to those days," he said. "And trying to think of the past makes me choke, be sad and cry."
Today, Lee is at the center of a developing diplomatic divide between South Korea and Japan, just as the United States is using to strengthen their alliances in Asia in order to create a front. united against North Korea and its nuclear program.
Last week, the Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that Lee and three others were entitled to compensation of 100 million won (£ 68,000) from Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation in a case that had lasted almost 14 years old. Since he was deposed, the other three men who sued Lee have died, a fact he only learned on the day of the verdict. The trip to Seoul, where the court is sitting, weighed so heavily on the 94-year-old that he was too sick to talk to reporters when he returned home.
The trauma of his stay in Japan prevented him from realizing his dream of becoming an engineer, he said. After the war, he held a variety of jobs, including as a police officer under the US military government, as well as a gas station and tour operator.
The court's judgment allowed Lee, who now lives alone, to live in Gwangju City (South), in a crowded one-room apartment, filled with faded family photos and a large stack of paper bags filled with prescriptions.
"I feel really good and rested – now that the decision has been made, the compensation will be paid," he said. "I can not even describe how hard it was to wait for the decision and I can not forget that after receiving the compensation."
Japan was quick to condemn the decision in the case. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has warned that his government could bring the case to the United Nations International Court of Justice.
"We strongly expect the South Korean government to take positive measures against the judgment," he told a parliamentary committee, adding that Seoul needed to ensure that the ruling did not affect him. Japanese companies present in South Korea.
He condemned the decision of the Supreme Court as "unbelievable" and expressed his "deep regret" that bilateral relations have been negatively affected by the case and by other recent events "that are going to affect him. Against efforts to build bilateral relations with a view to the future ".
Japan reiterated its position that all claims for compensation arising from the war had been settled "completely and finally" by a 1965 bilateral treaty. The company also asserted that it was an entity. distinct from the company that had forced Lee and others to work, the Nippon Steel group having been formed through post-war mergers.
The Supreme Court rejected these arguments and ruled that the treaty did not prevent individuals from suing for the "inhumane, illegal" experience they had endured. Fourteen similar lawsuits were filed against Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the large engineering and engineering company Hitachi Zosen.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in remained silent on the issue, but the prime minister said the government "respects the judgment of the court".
The Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Tuesday at the end of the day that Japanese leaders "ignore the root cause of the problem … and continue to make comments that arouse the emotions of our audience."
For Lee, the geopolitics of his case are not troubling and he remains particularly focused on the payment of his salary arrears, 75 years late.
"The other victims who have filed the lawsuit are dead, but he is the only survivor I can not give up," he said. "I went to work in Japan at a young age and I suffered a lot. I would like to see this problem resolved during my life. "
Additional report by Kyungmi Choi
