Mitsubishi Materials set to settle 3,765 Chinese wartime labor redress claims

[Raphael]

Mitsubishi Materials set to settle 3,765 Chinese wartime labor redress claims | The Japan Times

More than 3,000 Chinese have opted to settle a dispute with Mitsubishi Materials Corp. over the company’s use of wartime forced labor by receiving apologies and compensation of 100,000 yuan (¥2 million) for each victim, sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations have said.

Mitsubishi Materials is understood to be prepared to offer the money to 3,765 Chinese — the largest number of people to be subject to a Japanese company’s postwar compensation.

This is also the first time that a Japanese firm has decided to apologize and pay monetary compensation to Chinese war victims in relation to a case that has already been rejected by Japan’s Supreme Court.

A negotiation team representing the Chinese groups and Mitsubishi Materials are preparing to soon sign a historic reconciliation agreement in Beijing, the sources said, as this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Mitsubishi Materials has admitted that its predecessor, Mitsubishi Mining Co., and subcontractors accepted 3,765 Chinese people as forced laborers and infringed on their human rights, according to the sources.

The victims were part of about 39,000 Chinese who were brought to Japan against their will between 1943 and 1945 in line with a Japanese government decision to address a growing shortage of labor in areas such as coal mining and construction.

Due to hard labor and privation, 6,830 of them died. Starting in the 1990s, Chinese survivors of forced labor and their families filed a series of compensation lawsuits against the Japanese government and Japanese companies.

But the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that Chinese individuals had no judicial right to demand wartime compensation as it had already been renounced under a 1972 joint communique issued when Sino-Japanese diplomatic ties were normalized.

Mitsubishi Materials will express “deep remorse” and “sincere apologies,” the sources said, adding that it will pay ¥100 million for the construction of monument to recognize its mistakes and ¥200 million toward the search for missing victims and their relatives.

Of the 3,765, only about 1,500 Chinese survivors of forced labor and their families have been found so far.

The Chinese groups, which had hoped to restore the dignity of aging victims while they were still alive, started negotiations with the Tokyo-based company in January 2014.Mitsubishi Materials will come to terms with three Chinese groups that have sought compensation from it. Both sides recognize that the signing of the agreement will be a final settlement of the issue.

The three groups represent a large majority of the victims.

One different Chinese group of 37 people filed a compensation lawsuit in February 2014 with a Beijing court against Mitsubishi Materials.

The group took legal action after South Korean courts ordered several Japanese firms in 2013 to pay damages over wartime forced labor, even though Tokyo and Seoul agreed in 1965 when normalizing bilateral ties that all compensation issues had been settled.

It also took place at a time when the Chinese government was stepping up its campaign at home and abroad to warn of Japan’s resurgent militarism, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit in late 2013 to Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals are enshrined along with the country’s war dead.

Earlier this year, the group broke off its out-of-court settlement negotiations with the company. If the Chinese court decides to begin a trial, it will be the first compensation case of its kind in China involving victims of forced labor and a Japanese company.

Until last year, Chinese authorities largely prevented individuals from filing compensation suits against Japan out of concern it could hurt bilateral ties and discourage Japanese investment.

On Sunday, Mitsubishi Materials apologized to almost 900 former American prisoners of war who were used as forced labor at mines operated by its predecessor.

Chinese official media gave heavy coverage to the apology, with the tone that the Japanese government and companies should also be more sincere to people in other parts of Asia who suffered under Japan’s past militarism.

 

[IsaacNewton]

Smart PR move by Mitsubishi.

100,000 yuan is roughly 16,000 dollars. Improve PR with small monetary loss.

 

[Keel]

Mitsubishi Materials set to settle 3,765 Chinese wartime labor redress claims | The Japan Times

More than 3,000 Chinese have opted to settle a dispute with Mitsubishi Materials Corp. over the company’s use of wartime forced labor by receiving apologies and compensation of 100,000 yuan (¥2 million) for each victim, sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations have said.

Mitsubishi Materials is understood to be prepared to offer the money to 3,765 Chinese — the largest number of people to be subject to a Japanese company’s postwar compensation.

This is also the first time that a Japanese firm has decided to apologize and pay monetary compensation to Chinese war victims in relation to a case that has already been rejected by Japan’s Supreme Court.

A negotiation team representing the Chinese groups and Mitsubishi Materials are preparing to soon sign a historic reconciliation agreement in Beijing, the sources said, as this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Mitsubishi Materials has admitted that its predecessor, Mitsubishi Mining Co., and subcontractors accepted 3,765 Chinese people as forced laborers and infringed on their human rights, according to the sources.

The victims were part of about 39,000 Chinese who were brought to Japan against their will between 1943 and 1945 in line with a Japanese government decision to address a growing shortage of labor in areas such as coal mining and construction.

Due to hard labor and privation, 6,830 of them died. Starting in the 1990s, Chinese survivors of forced labor and their families filed a series of compensation lawsuits against the Japanese government and Japanese companies.

But the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that Chinese individuals had no judicial right to demand wartime compensation as it had already been renounced under a 1972 joint communique issued when Sino-Japanese diplomatic ties were normalized.

Mitsubishi Materials will express “deep remorse” and “sincere apologies,” the sources said, adding that it will pay ¥100 million for the construction of monument to recognize its mistakes and ¥200 million toward the search for missing victims and their relatives.

Of the 3,765, only about 1,500 Chinese survivors of forced labor and their families have been found so far.

The Chinese groups, which had hoped to restore the dignity of aging victims while they were still alive, started negotiations with the Tokyo-based company in January 2014.Mitsubishi Materials will come to terms with three Chinese groups that have sought compensation from it. Both sides recognize that the signing of the agreement will be a final settlement of the issue.

The three groups represent a large majority of the victims.

One different Chinese group of 37 people filed a compensation lawsuit in February 2014 with a Beijing court against Mitsubishi Materials.

The group took legal action after South Korean courts ordered several Japanese firms in 2013 to pay damages over wartime forced labor, even though Tokyo and Seoul agreed in 1965 when normalizing bilateral ties that all compensation issues had been settled.

It also took place at a time when the Chinese government was stepping up its campaign at home and abroad to warn of Japan’s resurgent militarism, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit in late 2013 to Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals are enshrined along with the country’s war dead.

Earlier this year, the group broke off its out-of-court settlement negotiations with the company. If the Chinese court decides to begin a trial, it will be the first compensation case of its kind in China involving victims of forced labor and a Japanese company.

Until last year, Chinese authorities largely prevented individuals from filing compensation suits against Japan out of concern it could hurt bilateral ties and discourage Japanese investment.

On Sunday, Mitsubishi Materials apologized to almost 900 former American prisoners of war who were used as forced labor at mines operated by its predecessor.

Chinese official media gave heavy coverage to the apology, with the tone that the Japanese government and companies should also be more sincere to people in other parts of Asia who suffered under Japan’s past militarism.

At a time when the poor suffering survivors are whittling down to thousands from tens of thousands in China and S Korea

and only 2 out of the above 900 former American prisoners of war have survived today - one over 90 who attended the event and the other cant even walk but all approaching their last glimse of sunlight

It is a chapter of the greatest tragedy to the people

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Smart PR move by Mitsubishi.

100,000 yuan is roughly 16,000 dollars. Improve PR with small monetary loss.

Insurance pays I bet.

 

[Keel]

Insurance pays I bet.

what insurance ???? if there is "no beneficiary" at the outset for completion of all the fundamental requirements of a standard insurance contract
Mitsubitshi never recognises the "existence" of the case before. How could there be any insurance coverage?
They may have to pay it through some sort of charitable trusts or something like that

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

what insurance ???? if there is "no beneficiary" at the outset for completion of all the fundamental requirements of a standard insurance contract
Mitsubitshi never recognises the "existence" of the case before. How could there be any insurance coverage?
They may have paid it through some sort of charitable trusts or something like that

Hundreds of Chinese families seek wartime compensation from Japan| Reuters


"In possibly the biggest class-action suit in Chinese legal history, about 700 plaintiffs lodged a case against two Japanese firms at a courthouse in eastern Shandong province in April, said Fu Qiang, a lawyer representing the families. Among the plaintiffs are several forced laborers, now in their 80s and 90s, and this might be their last chance to seek redress.

The suit was filed against Mitsubishi Corp (Qingdao) Ltd, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp, and Yantai Misubishi Cement Co, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Corp and construction firm Mitsubishi Materials Corp, Fu said.

The plaintiffs are each seeking 1 million yuan ($160,100) in compensation, a public apology in several prominent Chinese and Japanese newspapers, as well as the erection of a memorial and monument in remembrance of the forced laborers, Fu said, adding that they also want the companies to fund their legal expenses."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mitsubishi Corp settled the case.

 

[Kyle Sun]

no one cares about how much money they pay but the attitude.

japan never feels guilty of ww2

 

[Rechoice]

This dispute could apply for case of Hongkong people too.

 

[Keel]

This dispute could apply for case of Hongkong people too.

HK people against Japan for reparation, of course
The territory was badly destroyed and hundreds of thousands have suffered, including the British garrisons which stationed there

 

[Aepsilons]

Good to see this development !

 

[LowPost]

Mitsubishi apology hopes rise

Relatives of wartime forced laborers press for deal from company after breakthrough statement to US POWs

Relatives of Chinese victims of forced labor are hoping to receive a formal apology and compensation from Japanese industrial giant Mitsubishi Materials after an announcement by the company on Wednesday.

Japan's Kyodo News agency published what it said were details of the company's proposals on Friday.

Yukio Okamoto, a director of Mitsubishi Materials, said the company hopes to apologize to former British, Dutch and Australian World War II prisoners of war, and also reach an amicable solution with Chinese forced laborers.

The official was speaking after a landmark apology was made to US POWs earlier this week.

Okamoto, who was among company officials who delivered the apology to surviving US POWs and family members on Sunday in Los Angeles, said the POWs were brought to Japan to work and subjected to harsh labor conditions.

Japan invaded China before the outbreak of the global conflict, and Chinese who were sent to work in Japan and their descendants are suing for compensation in both Japanese and Chinese courts.

Kyodo News said Mitsubishi Materials will offer each of the 3,765 Chinese victims (based on the company's calculations) or their families a sincere apology and compensation of 2 million yen (100,000 yuan, or $16,000) for its wartime wrongdoing.

Tong Zeng, head of the China Association for Compensation Claim against Japan, presented a draft version of an "apology letter" offered by the company at a news conference in Beijing on Friday, and Tong confirmed the offer of 100,000 yuan for each victim.

China News Service revealed the full text of the draft, prepared in both Japanese and Chinese, and said Mitsubishi will pay into a "fund for the victimized laborers and their family members".

About 40,000 Chinese nationals were kidnapped and forcibly taken to Japan during World War II to work in coal mines and on construction sites, where harsh conditions led to the death of almost 7,000.

Of the 3,765 Chinese laborers claimed to have been used by Mitsubishi Mining, the wartime predecessor of Mitsubishi Materials, 720 died at the time, and only 1,500 survivors or relatives have been found, Kyodo said.

Cui Shuping's late father was taken away to work for Mitsubishi between 1944 and 1945.

"They (the Japanese) did not treat him as a human being, and this had a lifelong impact on him," said Cui, from Beijing, whose father died at age 89 in 2013. "The year of forced labor haunted him for the rest of his life."

Relatives such as Cui were disturbed to learn that Mitsubishi declined to confirm the Kyodo report on Friday.

A publicity official said it was "inconvenient" to comment because the company was still hammering out the details, Xinhua said.

The Seoul-based JoongAng Ilbo newspaper added to the pressure on the Japanese company on Friday, saying it "has not made an apology" to Koreans who suffered in its mines during the war.

Sun Cheng, a professor of Japanese studies at China University of Political Science and Law, said he expected Mitsubishi to deliver a formal reply to the Chinese victims in the near future.

Cui hopes an apology will be forthcoming soon.

"I'm 64, and I hope the whole issue can be resolved as soon as possible to free my children from having to tackle it."

Yang Yixi, Cai Hong and Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Mitsubishi apology hopes rise[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn

 

[Keel]

Lacking proof, Mitsubishi unwilling to apologize to Canadian POWs - The Globe and Mail

Lacking proof, Mitsubishi unwilling to apologize to Canadian POWs
IAIN MARLOW - ASIA-PACIFIC CORRESPONDENT

The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Jul. 23, 2015 8:42PM EDT

Last updated Friday, Jul. 24, 2015 6:00PM EDT


On Christmas morning, 1944, 23-year-old Corporal George Peterson of the Winnipeg Grenadiers was told by his Japanese guards that he wouldn’t have to go down the Mitsubishi-owned coal mine that day.

Mr. Peterson, who had already spent three grueling years as a prisoner of war, said it looked as though the POWs were about to get a break from the slave-like working conditions. The guards first dragged out a fir tree, then brought out extra food for the famished prisoners, including riceballs and beer.

“They lined us up behind the table and took a picture,” says Mr. Peterson, now 94. But then “they said we could go back down the mine. … When we came up from the mine at about 5 p.m., the guards were laughing at us, saying the food was pretty good. We laughed right back, because we were trying not to let them know how much it hurt.”

Nearly 70 years after the end of the Second World War, Mitsubishi Materials Corp. has begun to issue historic apologies to POWs – but it has not yet apologized to Canadians.

On Sunday, Mitsubishi outside director Yukio Okamoto, who is also an adviser on historical issues to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, made a landmark apology to American POWs in Los Angeles – the first Japanese company to do so – and later said the firm would also apologize to British, Australian and Dutch POWs.

But Canadian POWs, the vast majority of whom were captured by the Imperial Japanese Army when it overran Hong Kong as part of a surprise offensive that included the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, have not been included. When reached by The Globe and Mail this week, a spokesperson for Mitsubishi Materials said they “have no records and no means to verify whether or not we used Canadians POW in our predecessor company” – but that the company would make such an apology if presented with proof that they had forcibly employed Canadians.

“We will consider [an] apology [to] such people if we can verify the fact and have [the] appropriate opportunity,” Mitsubishi spokesperson Takuya Kitamura said in an e-mail.

But the president of the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association, Carol Hadley, is unsure what sort of proof or evidence might remain beyond oral accounts – since, she said, many of the historical records were destroyed in Japan. Her father Borge Agerbak was captured in Hong Kong, and told her he was forced to work in a separate Mitsubishi mine.

“I’m pleased that they are apologizing to some, I just wish they would include the Canadians in it,” said Ms. Hadley, whose father died in 2001 and who is now working with others to amass documentation. “A lot of our veterans would never drive anything that had any Mitsubishi parts in it. My dad thought he should have had some shares in that company for all the work he put in.”

Roughly 1,600 Canadians were captured at the Battle of Hong Kong. More than 250 of them would die in Japanese captivity by the end of the war as they suffered through starvation, beatings and diseases such as diphtheria.

The legacy of such abuses by Japanese soldiers and businesses continues to reverberate. Unlike in Europe, which moved on after Nazi Germany’s atrocities, modern East Asian geopolitics are still complicated by Japan’s refusal to fully acknowledge its violent military colonization of Asia in the 20th century – from the annexation of Korea in 1910 to its subsequent invasion of China and much of Southeast Asia.

Although Japanese leaders have in the past offered contrition, there is constant fury from China and South Korea over issues related to Japan’s wartime record, such as military brothels. And there is great anticipation over remarks Mr. Abe is set to make on Aug. 15, the 70th anniversity of the end of hostilities. Mitsubishi’s unprecedented apology, as well as a financial agreement it reached on Thursday with Chinese forced labourers, are historic steps in acknowledging past corporate injustices, and form just part of Japan’s complicated process of reconciling with its history.

In an interview this week, Mr. Peterson said there were roughly 125 other Canadians imprisoned and employed alongside him at that particular Mitsubishi coal mine – adding that prisoners suffered through “disease, starvation, overwork” and that some prisoners were even murdered by their Japanese captors.

“I think they should apologize to the Canadians, too,” said Mr. Peterson, who was one of three Canadian POWs who traveled to Japan and accepted a separate apology from the Japanese government in 2011. “I’d accept it, if they apologized.”

The tales from POWs interned by the Japanese are truly horrifying. One Canadian POW, Edward Shayler, described life in a Mitsubishi coal mine on the day prisoners were told they would be buried alive in the mine if Allied forces invaded Japan. In an account recorded on the website of the group run by Ms. Hadley, Mr. Shayler wrote that after 1,365 days of confinement without adequate food or warmth, he was riddled with lice, fleas and bed bugs. He had sores all over his legs, and his teeth were aching, covered in a “thick scale,” and riddled with holes. “The hunger pangs were something I never could get used to,” Mr. Shayler wrote.

There was some resistance. Mr. Peterson, who was forced to labour in Hong Kong before he was shipped to Japan’s mines, described working on a runway at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport, shoveling soft clay onto the tarmac. He said the first Japanese plane to land “went through the runway,” but a Japanese engineer was blamed. Another group of Allied POWs at a Japanese shipyard, he said, managed to burn down the shed that held ship blueprints – but also avoided blame. At times, Mr. Peterson added, the POWs at the Mitsubishi mine would commit subtle acts of sabotage by refusing to haul out the required amounts of coal during their 12-hour shifts, which simply made the guards keep them down the mine even longer.

Jennifer Lind, an associate professor at Dartmouth College who has written a book about apologies in international politics, said there is no legal obligation for Japanese corporations to get involved in the complex apology process – although German companies, along with the German government, agreed to offer roughly €4.4-billion ($6.3-billion) to more than 1.6 million people in nearly 100 countries who were forcibly employed or used as slave labourers in Europe during the Second World War.

“So far the debate has focused on the policies of Japan’s government: whether a government was willing to offer apologies and to support reflection upon Japan’s past in history textbooks and so forth,” said Prof. Lind. “Firms have been uninvolved in this, basically, though there is a huge legacy of guilt that they could choose to explore if they wanted to.”

The apology Mitsubishi issued to American POWs in L.A. was organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, a human-rights activist who serves as the center’s associate dean, told The Globe he will raise the Canadians’ case when he meets with the CEO of Mitsubishi Materials on a trip to Japan next week.

“This is an incredible opportunity for Japan,” said the rabbi, who is trying to encourage other Japanese companies to follow Mitsubishi’s lead in making an apology. “There is a window of opportunity here.”

In Canada’s case, the window is fast closing: Including Mr. Peterson, there are just 25 Canadian veterans from the Battle of Hong Kong left alive, according to Ms. Hadley. One passed away in mid-June, she said, and of the rest only five are well enough to travel to the association’s convention in August.