A Seoul court on Friday ordered a Japanese firm to compensate seven South Koreans for forcing them into labor decades ago when Korea was under Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

The Seoul Central District Court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay 100 million won (US$86,100) each to the plaintiffs, citing the illegality of the mobilization.

"The defendant is what the company (in the colonial era) has been re-incorporated into, holding the liability of the acts in the past," Judge Ma Yong-joo said.

The court did not recognize the Japanese company's claim that the plaintiffs' right to demand compensation expired with a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral ties in return for an economic aid package from Japan.

In July 2013, the Seoul High Court ruled against the Japanese firm in a similar case and ordered it to pay 100 million won each to four victims.

The issue of forced labor is becoming increasingly urgent as most surviving victims are well over 80 years old and may die before they receive compensation or an apology from the Japanese firms.

It is unclear how many people were mobilized for forced labor and died. Some civic groups claim the number of conscripts goes up to a million or more.

The Japanese government, as well as the companies that used forced laborers, however, have refused to pay any compensation, saying all issues regarding its colonial rule, including sex slavery and monetary reparations, were covered by the 1965 package. (Yonhap)