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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (42943)	1/30/2002 12:00:58 AM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I'm surprised Solong does not know the backbone of the Canadian economy was built by cheap imported Chinese labor. The hotels, roads, railways and mines were built by the initiative of their labor. I suppose Solong thinks they made the creative genius of his Irish ancestors look bad and tries to enable the idea that the Japanese were really having a gigantic tea party during WWII. Japanese firm pays for wartime misdeeds COMPENSATION: In a landmark settlement, Kajima Corp paid US$4.6 million to the 986 families of the Chinese who were forced to work during World War II AP AND AFP, TOKYO In the last years of World War II, 418 Chinese forcibly brought to Japan as laborers died from beatings, illness and the torture-chamber interrogations that followed a rebellion over slavelike conditions. Yesterday, survivors and relatives of those who died reached a multimillion dollar settlement with the construction company that could set a precedent for scores of similar cases, some involving Japanese industrial giants such as Mitsubishi and Mitsui. The Tokyo High Court confirmed that Kajima Corp, which ran a construction project on a river near the Hanaoka mine in northern Japan, reached an agreement with the 11 plaintiffs, who sued the company in 1995. Compensation will take the form of a ?500 million (US$4.6 million) fund for the families of all 986 Chinese who worked for Kajima, not just those who filed the lawsuit, said Takashi Niimi, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. While acknowledging the victims' sufferings, however, the construction giant denied any legal responsibility. "We had been continuing settlement talks based on the premise that the company does not owe any legal responsibility," Kajima said in a statement. Although there were some reservations about the size of the proposed settlement, which works out at US$4,665 per victim, "we agreed to it as we fully appreciated the historical significance of the reconciliation," Niimi said. The amount Kajima agreed to pay out is unprecedented in a Japanese wartime compensation lawsuit. ``This is the first real settlement of a forced labor suit,'' Niimi said. ``The company not only agreed to pay money but fully recognized its responsibility.'' Experts said the settlement could boost legal battles waged by other victims of Japanese wartime brutality, including women forced into sexual slavery by the imperial army. ``The settlement will serve as a catalyst in the nation's moves to set up a legal framework to compensate wartime victims,'' said Shigeru Tokoi, a lawyer who specializes in human rights issues. "Those who died in Hanaoka must be pleased to see this outcome today," said Kazue Nakazawa, the 73 year-old widow of Li Kejin, one of the original plaintiffs who died in March 1996. "The court brought us a thankful outcome." "What I feel most strongly at this moment is what all these people, including my husband, had in mind when they died," Nakazawa said before bursting into tears. The Hanaoka case has become one of the most potent symbols of Japan's brutality toward workers from Asian countries it conquered in the decades leading to World War II. Conditions were so bad that workers staged a revolt that was crushed by Japanese military forces. Many of the workers were tortured and killed during questioning following the mutiny. The Chinese were working on a Kajima project to redirect a river in the mining town of Hanaoka. Kajima Corp apologized to victims in 1989, but the plaintiffs continued their lawsuit, insisting the company pay compensation.