The government on Friday appealed to the Tokyo High Court a ruling ordering it to pay compensation for fatalities and injuries caused by chemical weapons the Imperial Japanese Army abandoned in China at the end of World War II.

On Monday, the Tokyo District Court found the government responsible for the suffering it caused the Chinese victims of poison gas. The government was ordered to pay the plaintiffs a total of 190 million yen.

Referring to its decision to contest the ruling, the Foreign Ministry said the district court in May ruled in favor of the state in a similar case.