A group representing the victims of Japan's wartime forced labor staged a rally in front of the foreign ministry building in Seoul on Monday to protest the government's pending announcement of its plan for compensation.

The group strongly criticized the presumed plan, under which the interior ministry's Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan will offer compensation from donations made by domestic firms instead of direct payment from liable Japanese companies.

While Tokyo maintains that all colonial-era reparation issues were settled in a 1965 bilateral treaty, the victims have demanded that Japanese firms ordered by South Korea’s top court to pay the compensation in 2018 comply with the ruling and issue an apology.

Different advocacy groups plan to hold press conferences in Seoul and in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Monday afternoon before a candlelight rally is held in front of Seoul City Hall in the evening to demand the plan's retraction.

A total of 15 victims are eligible for the court-ordered compensation totaling around four billion won.