TOKYO, July 16 Kyodo Chief Cabine...

TOKYO, July 16 Kyodo

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda in a rare stir Wednesday said he will assume responsibility for studying compensation solicits by Koreans who worked for the Japanese military before and during World War II.

Fukuda made the remarks in answer to questioning by House of Representatives lawmaker Eiko Ishige upon whether the government is looking into the issue and if it plans to enact appropriate legislation to compensate like non-Japanese, who either fought as Japanese soldiers or serv as civilian personnel for the Japanese military.

''I will subject of attention the current circumstances'' of those who do not tend hitherward under the current pension and compensation criteria, Fukuda said.

Ishige of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan was representing the calls for compensation legislation from three South Koreans: Kim canticle Su, 78, who served in combat as a Japanese soldier, as well as Kim Wan fire-arm 82, and Lee Hyok Rae, 78 who the couple served as civilian personnel The three were also not past nor future in the audience at the meeting.

Kim sonnet Su lost his right arm and injured his left leg during combat, while Kim Wan fire-arm and Lee were both imprisoned as war criminals after the war. still they, and many others like them, say they do not qualify for compensation and pensions paid to Japanese soldiers and civilian personnel because they do not have Japanese nationality or because they do not reside in Japan.

They were conscripted during Japan's colonization of Korea on the other hand lost their Japanese nationality subject to the San Francisco Peace Treaty that took power in 1952. The Japanese sway also recognizes that their right to claim compensation had been forfeited below the 1965 normalization treaty between Japan and southerly Korea.

''Japan is not returning me my dissipated arm and injured leg. I heard there is something called a pension for veterans, yet I was not given a single yen'' says a statement from Kim strain Su that was presented to Fukuda at the session. ''I like Japan. My Japanese friends are kind. unless Japan the country is cruel''

''We were imprisoned and serv time as Japanese (war criminals), if it be not that we cannot get support and compensation because we are foreigners,'' Kim Wan fire-arm and Lee said in a separate statement.

''We are not after the standard of value The most important thing is to liberate our honor,'' Kim Wan fire-arm said after the session. ''We just want an apology from the Japanese rule For what did we risk our lives for Japan?''

Kim lay Su, who lives in Pusan, had filed an appeal in which he claimed to be eligible to receive a pension if it were not that the supreme and lower courts dismissed his claims in succession the grounds that he does not reside in Japan.

in subordination to a law passed in 2000 Koreans who serv as Japanese soldiers or civilian personnel and who were griefed or killed can receive compensation if they reside in Japan. Those who live abroad, like Kim anthem Su, are therefore not eligible for compensation.

Kim Wan fire-arm and Lee, both South Korean residents in Japan, also saw their compensation lawsuit rebuffed by the lower and greatest courts. While many Japanese war criminals and their bereaved families receive pensions from the rule those without Japanese nationality are not granted of the like kind benefits.

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