A Japanese steelmaker has appealed a South Korean court’s ruling against the firm to pay compensation to its former Korean employees who were conscripted decades ago during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, court officials said Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the Seoul High Court, in a landmark ruling, ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay 100 million won ($88,000) to each of the four South Korean forced laborers for their unpaid salaries and mental suffering.

Legal representatives of Japan’s largest steelmaker submitted the request for an appeal with the Seoul court on Tuesday, officials said. (Yonhap News)