When Japan Files Immediate Appeal, 'Suspension of Effect' Also Halts Sale

If an appeal is filed by midnight on the 11th
Daegu District Court will reconsider the seizure order
Even if dismissed due to procedural issues
Re-appeal to the Supreme Court is possible
Sale and liquidation will be further delayed

An information board installed in front of the Nippon Steel headquarters located in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan, on the afternoon of the day [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] If Nippon Steel (formerly Shin Nippon Steel) files an immediate appeal against the asset seizure decision by our courts, the payment of compensation to forced labor victims will inevitably be further delayed. An immediate appeal is one of the systems to contest a court decision and legally has the effect of suspending enforcement. In this case, it means that the seizure order on 81,075 shares of PNR, a joint venture between Nippon Steel and POSCO, will be suspended, and consequently, the next step of seizure, the sale procedure, will be halted.

According to the Civil Procedure Act, an immediate appeal must be filed within one week from the date the judgment is notified. For Nippon Steel, to file an immediate appeal, it must be done by 0:00 on the 11th, which is within one week from 0:00 on the 4th, when the public notification of the seizure order on PNR shares took effect. If the immediate appeal is not submitted by then, the seizure order will be finalized. Conversely, if Nippon Steel files an immediate appeal within the period, our courts will reconsider the seizure order on the 81,075 PNR shares corresponding to the damage compensation claim amount decided by the Daegu District Court Pohang Branch in January last year. The hearing for the immediate appeal case is expected to be held at the Daegu District Court, the original jurisdiction of the Pohang Branch.

However, the possibility that the court will accept the appeal is considered low. Lawyer Jaesung Lim (HaeMaru Law Firm), representing the forced labor victims, said, "Nippon Steel's immediate appeal is not disputing the substance of the claim but is an objection to the seizure decision procedure, and since there is no illegality in the procedure, it is unlikely to be accepted." However, even if the Daegu District Court's appellate panel dismisses Nippon Steel's immediate appeal, a further appeal to the Supreme Court is possible, so it is expected that it will take some time until the seizure decision is finalized.

If the finalization of the seizure decision is delayed, the sale procedure will naturally be postponed as well. The forced labor victims applied for the sale of PNR shares to the Daegu District Court Pohang Branch in May last year, but without the confirmation of the seizure order, the sale cannot proceed, so the court's judgment on this case has not yet been issued.

Even after the sale decision is made, it will be a difficult path before the forced labor victims receive compensation payments. This is because after issuing a special cash conversion order (sale order) on the seized assets, there remain additional procedures of delivering the order documents to the defendant and confirming them in court. Moreover, even if the court issues the sale order, the sale cannot be executed unless the related documents are delivered to Nippon Steel through the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of course, if delivery is not made, public notification can be chosen for the sale order. However, immediate appeals and further appeals are also possible against this order. In other words, the sale of PNR shares can only be executed through a court enforcement officer after the Supreme Court confirms the sale order, so it is said that it may take several years until the compensation payment is made.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.