A Japanese court on Tuesday rejected a South Korean man's demand that he be certified for benefits as an atomic bomb victim without returning to Japan, in the first ruling on the dispute.
Lee Sang-yop, 83, was brought by Japan as a forced laborer from the colonized Korean peninsula. He suffered radiation when US forces destroyed Hiroshima in the world's first nuclear attack.
Japan offers benefits to all recognized atomic bomb survivors. Lee returned to Korea after the war and said he was too ill to go to Japan to be certified.
PHOTO: AP
`reasonable'
The Hiroshima District Court refused his case, saying it was reasonable for the government to require interviews with applicants for benefits due to problems in forgery.
"Mr. Lee is too sick to travel to Japan," said Yumi Yukinaga, one of the plaintiff's representing lawyers. "We will file an appeal to the higher court."
Lee had sought ?350,000 (US$3,000) in compensation from Japan's central and Hiroshima prefectural governments.
In 2002, the Osaka High Court ruled that atomic-bomb survivors were entitled to benefits if they live outside of Japan, paving the way starting last year for victims overseas to seek health care through Japanese diplomatic missions.
But they still have to fly to Japan to get a certification card, which is necessary to receive care.
A number of similar lawsuits have been filed by those living in South Korea and Brazil, to which many Japanese had immigrated.
horrific
The US bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killed about 140,000 people, almost half the city, either immediately or in the months that followed from radiation injuries or horrific burns.
Hundreds of thousands of others have suffered from health problems due to the radiation. The second atomic bomb dropped three days later on Nagasaki killed more than 70,000 people.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese