Relief fund needed in compensation for Chinese wartime forced laborers

A group of Japanese and Chinese lawyers has proposed a plan to establish a fund to help compensate Chinese people who had been taken and forced into hard labor by the Japanese military during the Second World War.

The proposed was announced on May 21 in Fukuoka (Japan) and Beijing (China).

Onodera Toshitaka, the group's secretary said, "The survivors of the abuse are aging and we must hurry to get the payment for compensation."

Pointing out that the government and corporations responsible for the forced labor recognize the historical fact that they took the Chinese to Japan and forced them into hard labor, the group demanded that they sincerely apologize for the abuse and establish a special fund so that the victims and their families may be compensated.

Nearly 40,000 Chinese were taken from China during the war for forced labor at 135 mines, ports, and factories for 35 corporations with no payment. The inhumane treatment killed about 7,000 of them.

At the press conference held on May 21 in Fukuoka, Liu Qian, 81, testified that he was thrown into a pit of the Mitsui-Miike Mine in Fukuoka. "When I was hit on my right leg with an axe by a supervisor, I was operated on without anesthesia," he stated with tears.

The lawyers, after consulting with China's counterpart and representatives of the survivors, will submit the proposal to the Japanese parliament and government in May. (end)