Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono speaks to media after a meeting with South Korean ambassador to Japan Lee Su-hoon (not pictured) at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, Japan October 30, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - South Korea’s top court ruling on Thursday that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd must compensate South Koreans in two separate cases for their forced labor during World War Two is totally unacceptable, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said in a statement.

“This fundamentally overturns the legal basis for friendly ties between Japan and South Korea and is extremely regrettable. It is totally unacceptable,” Kono said in a statement.