China WW2 forced laborers lose Japan court battle
Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:39PM EDT
By Teruaki Ueno
TOKYO (Reuters) - Chinese slave laborers who were forced to work in Japan during World War Two lost their bid for compensation on Friday when the Supreme Court overturned a landmark ruling that had ordered a Japanese company to pay them.
The Japanese top court's verdict -- its first in such a case -- coincides with a push by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is currently in Washington for a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, to restore Japanese pride in the past. Critics call the campaign an attempt to whitewash wartime atrocities.
In 2004, the Hiroshima High Court ordered Japanese construction firm Nishimatsu Construction Co. Ltd. to pay a total of 27.5 million yen ($230,000) to a group of five Chinese in compensation for forcing them to work in Japan during World War Two.
"The ruling is disgraceful in light of friendly relations between Japan and China," said Shinzo Tsuchiya, a supporter of the former laborers.
Nishimatsu had argued that the statute of limitations had expired on violations of obligations to ensure safe working conditions for the workers.
"It was an appropriate decision. That's all we have to say," said a Nishimatsu official who declined to be named.
The plaintiffs are among 360 Chinese forcibly brought from China to work in Japan in July 1944. Most of them worked at a Nishimatsu hydroelectric power plant construction site in western Japan until the end of the war in 1945.
Rest of article at http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=UST16305020070427
Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:39PM EDT
By Teruaki Ueno
TOKYO (Reuters) - Chinese slave laborers who were forced to work in Japan during World War Two lost their bid for compensation on Friday when the Supreme Court overturned a landmark ruling that had ordered a Japanese company to pay them.
The Japanese top court's verdict -- its first in such a case -- coincides with a push by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is currently in Washington for a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, to restore Japanese pride in the past. Critics call the campaign an attempt to whitewash wartime atrocities.
In 2004, the Hiroshima High Court ordered Japanese construction firm Nishimatsu Construction Co. Ltd. to pay a total of 27.5 million yen ($230,000) to a group of five Chinese in compensation for forcing them to work in Japan during World War Two.
"The ruling is disgraceful in light of friendly relations between Japan and China," said Shinzo Tsuchiya, a supporter of the former laborers.
Nishimatsu had argued that the statute of limitations had expired on violations of obligations to ensure safe working conditions for the workers.
"It was an appropriate decision. That's all we have to say," said a Nishimatsu official who declined to be named.
The plaintiffs are among 360 Chinese forcibly brought from China to work in Japan in July 1944. Most of them worked at a Nishimatsu hydroelectric power plant construction site in western Japan until the end of the war in 1945.
Rest of article at http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=UST16305020070427
