Japanese court turns down lawsuit by Chinese laborers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-10 08:55

TOKYO -- A lawsuit filed against the Japanese government and two Japanese companies by 45 Chinese who were forced to work as laborers in Japan during World War II (WWII) was turned down by the Fukuoka High Court on Monday.

The court said that individual Chinese have no right to demand compensation from Japan as the right was abandoned under the 1972 Japan-China Joint Communique, in which Beijing "renounced its war reparation from Japan."

However, it acknowledged that forcibly taking the Chinese to coal mines in Fukuoka Prefecture and making them work there was an illegal act committed jointly by the state and the companies.

The ruling that individual Chinese have no right to seek war reparations is in line with a Supreme Court decision made in April 2007.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs, including relatives of the Chinese who were forced to work as laborers, had demanded that the state, Mitsui Mining Co. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp. pay a combined 1,035 million yen (10.6 million US dollars) in compensation.

In April last year, the high court recommended plaintiffs and defendants reach an out-of-court settlement, but the negotiations broke up partly because the state rejected the suggestion.

In March 2006, the Fukuoka District Court also acknowledged that the act was illegal, but dismissed the lawsuit as the state is not held responsible for the act because public authority was exercised under the Meiji Constitution, which was in effect from 1890 to 1947.

The district court also said that the plaintiffs have lost their right to seek reparation from the companies because 20 years have passed since the time the Chinese suffered forced labor.