A Seoul court ruled against South Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor, who filed a lawsuit against Japanese companies.

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday sided against 104-year-old victim Kim Han-soo and the family of a late victim, surnamed Park, in their respective suits against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kumagai Gumi Company.

According to their legal counsel, Kim and Park were conscripted into forced labor in Japan during its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. While Kim returned to Korea in 1945, Park is believed to have died while in Japan.

While the court provided no explanation, it is thought to have ruled on the grounds that the statute of limitations has expired, in accordance with previous rulings.

Under civil law, the legal right to claim damages expires ten years after the unlawful act has occurred or three years after the victim becomes aware of the damage and the offender.

There was confusion over the statute of limitations as it pertained to cases brought by forced labor victims.

Some claimed that the three-year period should have been counted from the landmark 2018 Supreme Court ruling that ordered Japan's Nippon Steel to compensate a group of four victims, while others argued that it should have started from 2012, when the top court ordered a retrial.