TOKYO, Jan. 19 Kyodo sum of two u...

TOKYO, Jan. 19 Kyodo

sum of two units support groups for prisoners of war (POWs) detained in Siberia after World War II have asserted Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's failure to bring up their calls for redres and an apology from Moscow during his visit to Russia earlier this month

''Is it all right to slight the human rights of former detainees who are now from one side of to the other 80 years old on average, for the sake of (negotiations on) the revert of the Northern Territories and for dialogue with North Korea?'' the clusters said in a statement.

The clusters formed by Japanese POWs who were forcefully brought to and detained in Siberia after the war, said they had written to Koizumi forward Jan. 2, calling for thorough investigations as well as an apology from Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin and the redres of unpaid wages.

The premier made the visit Jan. 9-12 to prosecute progress in pending bilateral issues, as it was as the long-standing territorial dispute through the whole extent of the islands and efforts to obtain Moscow's cooperation to help achieve a breakthrough in stalled talks with North Korea.

nevertheless Koizumi did not bring up the detention issue during meetings with Putin and his conclude aide Konstantin Pulikovskii, or when he visited graves for Japanese there, the form into groupss said.

The statement also testifyed the inaction of Putin and the couple governments in Tokyo and Moscow

''If the Japanese dominion thinks that the Russian side bears no responsibility regarding the detention and forced labor in Siberia, then the Japanese control as the country that extended the POWs, should redres the unpaid wages onward (Russia's) behalf,'' the collections said.

The clumps also said the Japanese command is trying to forget that ''over 600000 persons were abducted and forcibly taken'' to Siberia throughout half a century ago, in spite of measures it took newly to support abduction victims taken through North Korea.

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