SEOUL -- Lawyers for South Korean plaintiffs in a wartime requisitioned labor case said Wednesday that they had initiated procedures to seize assets of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. held in South Korea.
The procedures were carried out at the Pohang Branch of the Daegu District Court after South Korea's Supreme Court ruled against Nippon Steel in October last year, the first ruling by the top court ordering a Japanese company to pay compensation to South Korean former requisitioned workers.
If the plaintiffs' request is accepted, the seizure is expected to be completed in about one to two weeks.
The Japanese government has asked South Korea to take necessary steps to prevent the issue from causing harm to Japanese companies. However, it appears inevitable that the relationship between the two countries will deteriorate further as the plaintiffs' move is what a Japan-South Korea diplomatic source described as "overstepping the boundary."
According to the lawyers, the application for the asset seizure was filed on Dec. 31 last year and specifically sought the seizure of stocks in a joint venture between Nippon Steel and major South Korean steelmaker POSCO. Nippon Steel is said to hold a 30 percent stake in the joint venture, or about 2.34 million shares worth about 1.1 billion yen.
The plaintiffs' lawyers and others deplored Nippon Steel's lack of good faith in executing the court order.
Meanwhile, the plaintiff side did not apply for a court order to sell the seized assets to convert them to cash. Such an application is usually made at the same time that an asset seizure is sought. If an application for an asset sales order is filed, it would take at least two to three months and up to about six months to complete the sale, according to a source familiar with Japan-South Korea diplomatic affairs.
The plaintiff side explained that it did not apply for the sales order in the hope of achieving an amicable resolution through talks with Nippon Steel. Such a step is apparently aimed at urging the company and the Japanese and South Korean governments to deal with the issue promptly.
Nippon Steel: Extremely regrettable
Following the application for the asset seizure, Nippon Steel expressed disappointment.
"If this move is true, it is extremely regrettable," a public relations official of the company told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday. "We will respond appropriately after consulting with the Japanese government."
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