In a landmark ruling, a Japanese court yesterday ordered the government and a private company to pay damages to 12 Chinese nationals and their families who were brought to Japan as forced laborers during World War II.
It is believed to be the first time that a court here has ordered both the government and a company to pay compensation for former forced laborers.
The Niigata District Court ordered the government and the Niigata-based distribution company Rinko Corp to jointly pay eight million yen (US$75,340) to each plaintiff -- 10 former laborers and relatives representing a deceased former laborer.
The plaintiffs were brought to Niigata in 1944 by the Japanese military and were put to work at the Niigata port and train stations as porters carrying such supplies as food and coal, according to court documents.
They returned to China after the war, but they claimed that they suffered from physical and psychological after-effects.
Dozens of former Chinese forced laborers have filed similar suits against the Japanese government and companies.
Some courts have admitted the plaintiffs were forced to be laborers at mines and elsewhere during the war.
Most of the claims, however, have been denied, citing a statute of limitations.
In a landmark ruling in April 2002, the Fukuoka District Court in southern Japan ordered Mitsui Mining to pay 165 million yen (US$1.55 million) to 15 Chinese forced laborers.
But three months later, a claim by nine forced laborers was rejected in the western Japan city of Hiroshima due to the statute of limitations.
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
RSS