SEOUL, Sept 28, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - A South Korean court has issued an

unprecedented order for assets seized from Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries to be sold to compensate World War II forced labourers, prompting
Tokyo to protest on Tuesday.

  Japan and South Korea are both democracies, market economies and US allies,
but their relationship has been strained for decades over Tokyo's brutal
1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.

  Around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour by Japan during
the 35-year occupation, according to data from Seoul, not including women
forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.

  On Monday, the Daejeon District Court ruled that two patents and two
trademarks held by Mitsubishi Heavy should be sold to compensate two female
Korean plaintiffs in their 90s, according to South Korea's Yonhap News
Agency.

  The proceeds are expected to raise enough to pay each victim around 209
million won (US$176,700) in compensation and interest, it said.

  It is the first time a South Korean court has ordered the liquidation of
Japanese corporate assets in a damages suit filed by World War II forced
labourers, Yonhap added.

  Tokyo government spokesman Katsunobu Kato described the South Korean
court's ruling as a "clear violation of international law".

  "The Japanese side strongly requested the South Korean side last night in
Seoul and this morning in Tokyo to take appropriate measures immediately," he
added.

  The 1965 treaty which saw Seoul and Tokyo restore diplomatic ties included
a reparation package of about $800 million in grants and cheap loans and
stated that claims between the countries and their citizens were "settled
completely and finally".

  Tokyo insists that extinguished the victims' right to sue.

  "The relevant company will immediately appeal" the Korean verdict, Kato
said.