Japan's Mitsubishi to apologise to Chinese wartime labourers: media

Japan's Mitsubishi Materials will apologise and pay compensation to Chinese victims of forced labour during World War II, Japanese media reported Friday, days after the firm made a landmark apology to US prisoners of war.

More than 3,700 Chinese who were forced into hard labour in the company's wartime mines will be eligible for compensation of 100,000 yuan ($16,100), Kyodo News and Jiji news agencies said, citing sources close to the matter.

Mitsubishi Materials, a sprawling conglomerate which makes everything from cement to electronics, will express "deep remorse" and "sincere apologies" to the victims and build a 100 million yen ($800,000) monument honouring them, Kyodo said.

It comes afer the Japanese firm on Sunday apologised to US prisoners of war used as forced labour during World War II, in the year marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the conflict.

About 39,000 Chinese nationals were forcibly brought to Japan during World War II at Tokyo's behest to work in coalmines and construction sites, the two countries estimate, where harsh conditions led almost 7,000 to perish.

Of the 3,765 Chinese labourers used by Mitsubishi Materials' wartime predecessor Mitsubishi Mining Co, several hundred died at the time, and only 1,500 survivors or their relatives have been found, Kyodo said.

Since the 1990s, Chinese survivors have filed a series of lawsuits against the Japanese government and corporations seeking damages for wartime wrongs.

However, Japan's Supreme Court in 2007 ruled against granting wartime compensation to individuals, saying their rights to claims were relinquished after a 1972 Sino-Japanese declaration that normalised ties between the two countries.