Nine Chinese nationals filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government and Mitsui Mining Co. on Wednesday seeking 207 million yen in compensation and an apology for being forced to work in coal mines in Fukuoka Prefecture during World War II.
Lawyers for Zhang Baoheng, 76, and eight other former Chinese forced-laborers filed the lawsuit with the Fukuoka District Court on Wednesday afternoon.
After filing the lawsuit, Zhang told reporters, "I was forcibly taken (to Japan) as a slave 57 years ago. I'm calling on Japan and related companies for compensation and an apology through a court trial on behalf of the other victims."
According to the men, who now live in China's Hebei Province, they were conscripted to Japan in 1943 and 1944 and were forced to work for Mitsui Mining at its Miike and Tagawa coal mines in Fukuoka Prefecture. The two coal mines have since been closed.
The lawsuit says the plaintiffs were each around 20 when they were sent to Japan in violation of international treaties banning forced labor.
The Chinese forced-laborers were given little food and often not paid, the lawsuit says.
The suit is the first targeted at the Miike mine, which employed 2,300 laborers from China -- the largest number of Chinese conscripted at a Japanese mine during the war.
Mitsui Mining representatives declined to comment, saying they had not read the complaint. Foreign Ministry officials said they would consider what action to take once they have reviewed the lawsuit.
Eight additional lawsuits involving Chinese forced laborers are pending. at six district courts in Japan as well as the Tokyo High Court.