Chinese forced laborers secure compensation from Japan firm
By Wang Xiang |
April 27, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A TOTAL of 183 Chinese wartime forced laborers or their families yesterday settled with a Japanese construction firm for compensation of 128 million yen (US$1.36 million) in a breakthrough case.
Nishimatsu Construction Co admitted in a Tokyo court that the company abducted Chinese workers during World War II and made them toil under severe conditions at a site in Niigata Prefecture in Japan.
The company also apologized, in writing, to the forced laborers.
The plaintiffs said in a statement after the settlement that they were satisfied with the compensation and apology.
Their lawyer said the victorious case was a chance to make Japan and its companies think again about "atonement for their sins during World War II."
However, one of the plaintiffs, Zhang Zaoling, the son of a forced laborer who died last year, said the money and "light-hearted apology letter" could never make up for the atrocities the Japanese army had committed in China, China News Service reported yesterday.
It was the first wartime case of its kind that Chinese plaintiffs have won since the first suit was filed in 1996.
Plaintiffs in only four cases have received some form of compensation for humane reasons, but no official liability was admitted.
Last December, a Japanese court scrapped the appeals of five Chinese laborers, saying the Nishimatsu company did not have to pay any compensation.
The court said at the time that Chinese had no right to seek war compensation from Japan.
The court cited a Joint Communique in 1972 in which China "gave up its rights to claim war reparations from Japan."
Yesterday's verdict will set a precedent for future suits by Chinese individuals and groups seeking wartime compensation from Japan.
In 1942, then-Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo ordered the abductions of Chinese laborers to Japan to help solve the country's labor shortage.
About 40,000 Chinese prisoners of war and civilians were forcibly taken to Japan to labor at about 130 construction sites around the country.
More than 6,000 of the forced laborers were worked to death.
Nishimatsu Construction Co admitted in a Tokyo court that the company abducted Chinese workers during World War II and made them toil under severe conditions at a site in Niigata Prefecture in Japan.
The company also apologized, in writing, to the forced laborers.
The plaintiffs said in a statement after the settlement that they were satisfied with the compensation and apology.
Their lawyer said the victorious case was a chance to make Japan and its companies think again about "atonement for their sins during World War II."
However, one of the plaintiffs, Zhang Zaoling, the son of a forced laborer who died last year, said the money and "light-hearted apology letter" could never make up for the atrocities the Japanese army had committed in China, China News Service reported yesterday.
It was the first wartime case of its kind that Chinese plaintiffs have won since the first suit was filed in 1996.
Plaintiffs in only four cases have received some form of compensation for humane reasons, but no official liability was admitted.
Last December, a Japanese court scrapped the appeals of five Chinese laborers, saying the Nishimatsu company did not have to pay any compensation.
The court said at the time that Chinese had no right to seek war compensation from Japan.
The court cited a Joint Communique in 1972 in which China "gave up its rights to claim war reparations from Japan."
Yesterday's verdict will set a precedent for future suits by Chinese individuals and groups seeking wartime compensation from Japan.
In 1942, then-Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo ordered the abductions of Chinese laborers to Japan to help solve the country's labor shortage.
About 40,000 Chinese prisoners of war and civilians were forcibly taken to Japan to labor at about 130 construction sites around the country.
More than 6,000 of the forced laborers were worked to death.
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