Japan Court Rejects WW2 Chinese Forced Labour Suit

A group of eight Chinese people seeking compensation for slave labour in Japan in World War Two had their case rejected by a regional court

The Miyazaki District Court acknowledged that the state and a Japanese company should have been obliged to compensate the eight, but it said the 20-year statute of limitations for bringing such a case had expired, Kyodo news agency said.

The eight plaintiffs had demanded the Japanese government and Mitsubishi Materials Corp. <5711.T> pay compensation totalling about 184 million yen ($1.56 million).

In a separate lawsuit earlier this month, the Tokyo High Court overturned a landmark ruling ordering the Japanese government and a company to compensate Chinese former forced labourers.

The court rulings come after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stirred anger overseas with remarks denying that Japan's government and military were directly involved in forcing thousands of mostly Asian women to work in wartime brothels.

Abe has since expressed sympathy for the women's suffering and stressed that Japan stood by a 1993 government apology.