Japan ordered to pay out war work

There are many Chinese suing Japan for the damage it made during WWII

TOKYO, Japan -- In a landmark case, a Tokyo court has ordered Japan's government to pay out a Chinese man forced to work in a mine during WWII.

It's the first time a Japanese court has granted compensation to a victim of Japan's wartime forced labor force, news reports said.

The Tokyo District Court ordered the government pay 20 million yen ($160,900) to Liu Lianren, for his suffering both during the war and long afterwards.

Liu, who was brought to a coal mine in northern Japan as a forced laborer from the Chinese port city of Qingdao in September 1944, escaped from the mine in April 1945.

But not knowing the war had ended, he then spent 13 years in hiding in the mountains of Hokkaido.

Beyond description

In his ruling, presiding judge Seiichiro Nishiok said: "The Japanese government forced harsh labor upon him and forced him to live a life which is beyond description for an extended period of time."

The court also slammed the Japan's government for ignoring an American order to help forced laborers return home after the war had ended.

Liu, among the most vocal critics of Japan's wartime brutality, filed suit in March 1996.

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He died last year at age 87 and his relatives took the case after his death.

About 40,000 Chinese were shipped to Japan to work, mostly in mines and ports, between 1943 and 1945.

Other Chinese and Koreans forced into slave-like labor conditions have filed lawsuits against some of Japan's most powerful corporations.

In November, Japanese construction giant Kajima Corp. agreed to set up a 500 million yen ($4.6 million) fund for its wartime laborers, who were forced to work in frigid temperatures to divert a river near a mine in northern Japan.

The fund was to assist the families of all 986 Chinese who worked at the camp, including relatives of 418 who died from beatings, disease or torture.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.