Japan to pay war compensation

Other former slave labourers want compensation too

In a landmark ruling a court in Japan has ordered the government to pay compensation to the relatives of a Chinese man forced to work as a labourer during World War II.

The court said the relatives of Liu Lianren should receive $160,000.

We see this ruling as a severe one for Japan

Chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda

It is said to be the first time a Japanese court has ordered payment of compensation to a forced labourer from China.

Mr Liu launched his campaign in March 1996, but died last year at the age of 87.

Shortly before the end of the war in 1945, Mr Liu fled from the labour camp.

He then spent 13 years hiding in mountains on the northern island of Hokkaido, apparently unaware the war was over.

'Victory'

Mr Liu became one of the most vocal critics of Japan's wartime brutality.

"It's an unprecedented ruling amongst court cases involving compensation after the war and it's quite meaningful," said lawyer Toru Takahashi.

Mr Lui's son, Liu Huanxin, who took over the legal fight after his father's death, said his father would have been "really pleased for this victory".

The Tokyo District Court said the Japanese Government had forced Mr Liu to work and live under harsh conditions for almost 15 years and also failed to take responsibility for its conduct, a court spokesman said.

Labour camp

Mr Lui was sent to a mine on Hokkaido in 1944 after the military abducted him from his home in Shantong Province, according to court documents.

Presiding Judge Seiichiro Nishioka said Mr Liu was forced into severe conditions and experienced "indescribable" difficulties while on the run.

After Japan's 1945 surrender, the government ignored a US order to help forced labourers return home, failed to provide protection and support for Mr Liu and made no effort to pay compensation, said the judge.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said the government was considering its next move.

"The Japanese Government lost partially," he said. "We see this ruling as a severe one for Japan, the defendant.

"We would like to consult the content of the ruling and we would like to discuss it with the related agencies."

During the war about 40,000 Chinese were shipped to Japan to work, mostly in mines and ports.

Sex case

In March, a Japanese court overturned the only compensation award ever made to World War II sex slaves, prompting outrage in South Korea.

Hiroshima's High Court reversed a 1998 district court ruling that ordered the Japanese Government to pay a total of $7,260 (900,000 yen) in damages to three South Korean women.

The judge said abducting the women to use them as forced labourers and sex slaves was not a serious constitutional violation.