Court orders government to pay compensation for overseas Hibakusha

The Nagasaki District Court has ruled that the state must pay compensation to those who were injured by Atomic-bombings, irrespective of their nationalities.

The court ruling on December 26 was on a suit filed by Li Gang Nai, a South Korean whose allowance the Japanese government had once paid as medical care for injuries due to the atomic bombing was ended just after his return to South Korea.

The ruling supported the plaintiff's complaint and ordered the state to pay one million yen to Li as duly paid allowances. This is the second ruling upholding a claim for the state's compensation of overseas hibakusha (A-bomb survivors), following an Osaka District Court decision in June.

Recalling that the Hibakusha Aid Law has no reference to nationalities in identifying hibakusha, the decision of the Nagasaki court states that the government must refrain from making a unilateral decision that will be against the legal rights of overseas hibakusha.

During the Pacific War, Li was taken to an arms factory in Nagasaki City where he fell victim to the atomic bombing. He returned to his home in South Korea after the war, and visited Japan in July 1994 for medical treatment. Then he received a hibakusha certificate which allows him to receive monthly allowances of 31,860 yen over three years for his medical care.

But, when he returned home in November 1994, the city stopped the payment of the allowance on the grounds that those who moved to overseas could not receive the allowance.

The Health and Welfare Ministry has maintained that the law should not be applied to such people.

The Japan Confederation of A and H Bombs Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo) in a statement highly appreciated the decision which called for state compensation for overseas hibakusha.

Hidankyo calls on the state not to appeal to higher courts but to accept the decisions and take measures to use more of the budget so that overseas hibakusha will be equally dealt with like domestic hibakusha. (end)