Liu Zonggen

Tokyo-based Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co. paid ¥21 million for the settlement at the Osaka High Court.

However, the plaintiffs will continue their suit against the government, which has claimed the statute of limitations for compensation has expired.

In December, the high court recommended a settlement among the three parties. The government refused to enter settlement talks.

Liu Zonggen, 72, three other former laborers and the family of two deceased men filed the suit in 1998, seeking a total ¥130 million in compensation and an apology from the government and Nippon Yakin Kogyo.

The plaintiffs say they were forced to work at the company's nickel factory in Kaya, Kyoto Prefecture, after being snatched by pro-Japanese Chinese soldiers while working in the fields of Henan province in 1944 before being taken to Japan.

The settlement is the second case involving a Japanese company and wartime slave laborers from China. In 2000, major construction firm Kajima Corp. settled its dispute with Chinese people taken to a mine in Akita Prefecture for slave labor during World War II by contributing ¥500 million to a relief fund for the victims.

The Japan Times Weekly: Oct. 9, 2004
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