Man sues Japanese firm for compensation
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-20 20:59

A Chinese man is suing a Japanese company for allegedly forcing him to work in Japanese mines during World War II, the government said Monday.

It was the first time a Chinese war victim has sought compensation from a Japanese entity through the Chinese courts rather than in Japan, where courts have rejected most similar cases, the Xinhua News Agency said.

Tian Chunsheng, also known as Ji Chunsheng, was sent to Japan during the war together with his father Ji Fuyi and forced to work in Japanese mines, Xinhua said. Tian claims he and other laborers were tortured and that his father died in Japanese custody, it said.

Tian returned to China in 1945 but was never paid for his labor in Japan, Xinhua said.

Tian, 76, is suing Mitsui Mining Co. over the alleged abuse, Xinhua said, but gave no further details about the case. It did not say how much compensation he is seeking.

Mitsui officials, contacted by telephone Monday in Tokyo, said they could not immediately comment on the report.

A Japanese high court in 2004 overturned a lower court's 2002 ruling ordering Mitsui to pay compensation to 15 Chinese men used as wartime slave laborers. The Fukuoka High Court acknowledged that the plaintiffs had been illegally forced to work, but said compensation was not required because the relevant statute of limitations had expired.

Tong Zeng, director of an unidentified group that Xinhua called a non-governmental federation, was quoted by the agency as saying it was "very difficult to be awarded economic compensation against a Japanese company in Japan."

But in China, "theoretically, in terms of law, success is possible," he was quoted as saying.

Japan's courts have rejected most of the dozens of lawsuits filed there by people saying they were forced into slavery by Japan during the World War II era.