The top court ruled Tuesday that a Japanese steel firm must compensate four South Korean victims forced to work in its factories during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula...recognizing their rights to sue for damages despite the 1965 Korea-Japan Normalization Treaty.  The court said the treaty did not terminate the victims’ rights to open a damages suit because they are seeking to be compensated for their suffering inflicted by “Japanese firms’ anti-humanitarian, illegal acts related to illegal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and war of aggressions.”  The right to compensation for forced labor is not subjected to the treaty, the court added...

...Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called the ruling “regrettable and totally unacceptable,” saying the ruling “clearly violated” the 1965 treaty.  Tokyo maintains the issue of forced labor by Japan had been resolved under the treaty...Seoul said that it “respects” the judiciary‘s judgement, but expressed hope to develop “future-oriented” relations with Japan...Tuesday’s ruling came after some five years of deliberation at the Supreme Court...There were allegations the previous Park Geun-hye administration pressured the court to delay the ruling out of fear of damaging Seoul-Tokyo ties...The ruling is expected to affect some 10 other cases involving South Korean victims of forced labor by Japanese firms...