In this June 7, 2021 file photo, plaintiffs speak to reporters after the Seoul Central District Court's dismissal of their wartime labor compensation lawsuit, in Seoul. (Mainichi)

       SEOUL (Kyodo) -- A South Korean district court on Wednesday dismissed a damages lawsuit filed by five South Koreans against Mitsubishi Materials Corp. over wartime labor while the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese rule, local media reported.

       The plaintiffs, who are the bereaved family of a person surnamed Lee, had demanded 100 million won ($86,600) from the Japanese company, claiming that Lee was forced to work at coal mines in Japan from 1941 to 1945, according to Yonhap News Agency.

       The Seoul Central District Court ruling came after the same court in June dismissed a wartime labor compensation lawsuit brought by a group of South Koreans against 16 Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Materials.

       The June ruling was contrary to a South Korean Supreme Court ruling in October 2018 that ordered what is now Nippon Steel Corp. to compensate South Korean plaintiffs for forced labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.

       The top court ruling, and a series of similar wartime labor rulings in South Korean courts against Japanese companies in subsequent months, worsened already strained ties between Japan and South Korea largely over historical issues.

       Japan has maintained that issues relating to property and claims between the two countries and their peoples stemming from the colonial rule have been settled "completely and finally" under a 1965 bilateral accord under which Japan provided grants and loans to South Korea.

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