South Korea's leading steelmaker POSCO Holdings has donated four billion won, or around three-point-one million U.S. dollars, to a fund providing compensation to victims of Japan's wartime forced labor.

The company said on Wednesday that it has voluntarily chipped in the outstanding amount from the ten billion won pledged to the responsible foundation under the interior ministry in 2012, having contributed three billion won in 2016 and again in 2017.

This comes after Seoul announced a plan last week to provide compensation through the foundation to more than a dozen victims that won damages suits against liable Japanese firms instead of having the Japanese companies make direct payments.

While the government has said that domestic corporate donations to the foundation will be voluntary, companies that financially benefited from the 1965 treaty establishing diplomatic relations with Japan, such as POSCO, are expected to provide the funds. 

Under that deal, Japan provided 500 million dollars in economic aid and loans, of which almost a quarter was injected in POSCO.