February 22, 2025

Representatives of four civil organizations working to resolve the issue of compensation for wartime damages on February 21 visited the Japanese Communist Party in the Diet building to request that JCP parliamentarians commit to enacting a law to properly address the issue and revising the existing laws.

The four were a liaison council of air-raid victims (Zenkuren), an Okinawan association working to realize compensation for civilian war sufferers, an association of former Korean Class B/C war criminals (Doshinkai) and their supporters, and a support center for Siberian internees.

JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira and JCP Policy Commission Chair Yamazoe Taku, both seated in the House of Councilors, received the visit and responded positively to their request.

Koike said, “This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. Postwar compensation is an important issue that needs to be moved forward,” adding that the JCP will make every effort to facilitate this.

Kuroiwa Tetsuhiko of the civilian U.S. air-raid victims’ group said, “Many of the victims have died, but there exists no law concerning civilian casualties caused by the U.S. saturation bombing campaign.” He requested JCP engagement in enacting a “law concerning lump-sum payments to victims of air raids”. He also said that the law should not exclude payments based on nationality.

Doi Setsuko, a Doshinkai supporter, talked about the history of the suffering of Korean and Taiwanese in the Japanese army who had been “guards at POW camps”. She said they were made war criminals after the war and died without any support or compensation from the Japanese government because of their nationalities. She said, “This is absurd. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Japan-Korea diplomatic relations, and I hope that the law will be reviewed,” calling for the enactment of a revised law to provide special benefits to the bereaved families of former Class B/C war criminals who had been tried as Japanese.

Arimitsu Ken of the support center for POWs in Siberian camps pointed out that 15 years have passed since the enactment of the “special measures law regarding former Japanese POWs in Siberia”, and that foreign detainees are still excluded from the law. He stressed the need to revise the law.

Past related articles:
> JCP Koike attends memorial for ex-POWs who died in Siberia and Mongolia [August 24, 2023]
> Enactment of law to relieve civilian victims of US air raids during WWII is pressing need [March 10, 2022]
> Koreans executed as ‘Japanese war criminals’ after WWII [May 22, 2016]