Japan, South Korea hold phone talks on wartime forced labour

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said on Friday he told his South Korean counterpart he wants Seoul to make a firm response in line with international law on South Korea's claim against a Japanese company over wartime forced labour. Kono spoke with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha by phone on Friday.

South Korean plaintiffs in a World War Two forced labour case against Japan's Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corp have applied to seize some of Nippon Steel's Korean assets, their lawyers said on Wednesday. Japan has said all wartime reparations were dealt with in a 1965 treaty that normalised ties between the two neighbours.