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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said on Tuesday that a South Korean court’s order to a Japanese firm to compensate wartime forced laborers was “unthinkable”, and the ruling overturned the legal basis for bilateral friendship since 1965.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would respond firmly, while Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami said Japan would consider a number of options should South Korea not respond promptly, including going to an international court.