Japan Press Weekly

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2011 June 15 - 21 [POLITICS]

TEPCO must pay nuclear damage compensation now: JCP Yamashita

Japanese Communist Party Upper House member Yamashita Yoshiki on June 14 urged the government to have TEPCO immediately pay compensation to the victims of the Fukushima nuclear plant accident.

At a House of Councilors special committee meeting on post-disaster reconstruction, Yamashita quoted a local fisherman who said, “I have not even received one yen in the three months since the quake.” Yamashita said that the power plant operator has so far only paid a total of 500 million yen in compensation to farmers and fishers in Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, and Chiba prefectures, while it has been requested to pay 3.4 billion yen (as of May 18).

TEPCO President Shimizu Masataka stated that his company could actually be exempt from providing compensation for damages. Industry Minister Kaieda Banri answered, however, that the utility has an obligation to provide payment.

“The primary responsibility for the compensation of course lies with TEPCO, but victims cannot wait any longer,” said Yamashita, calling on the government to consider making the payment for the company in order to prevent further delay.