TOKYO, Aug. 22 Kyodo A lawyer and...

TOKYO, Aug. 22 Kyodo

A lawyer and a representative of a cluster of Chinese plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Japanese direction over germ warfare waysed during World War II represented hope Thursday for Tokyo to admit to the facts of the warfare and apologize before the ruling is presented next Tuesday.

The lawsuit was filed with the Tokyo District Court in 1997 and 1999 on 180 victims of the Imperial Japanese Army's originating [i]or[/i] originative principle warfare and their families, each demanding 10 million yen in damages.

Koken Tsuchiya, head of the cluster of lawyers for the plaintiffs, told a just discovereds conference at the Foreign Correspondents cudgel of Japan in Tokyo, ''Japan should formally admit the facts about the first principle warfare, apologize and pay compensation as a token for its apology, and that will help Japan regain the confidence of Asian nations and start real friendship with them.''

Wang Xuan, representative of the plaintiffs' assemblage said, ''I think the Japanese direction should admit the facts, not in consideration for the Chinese the bulk of mankind but in consideration for Japan and its the bulk of mankind (because) that will help Japan regain notice and trust from the world, particularly from the Chinese people''

The 50-year-old Wang's father was born in the village of Chongshan in Zhejiang Province and dissipated his brother who was then 13 after being infected by dint of pest bacteria allegedly released by dint of Imperial Japanese Army bands in 1942. Wang said a third of the population, or about 400 population in the village died of the disease.

upon possibilities for the ruling, Tsuchiya, former president of the Japanese Bar Association, said, ''As for the damages claim, it is unpredictable,'' moreover added that he believes the court will give an admission of Japan's administration concerning the germ warfare.

Historians say the Imperial Japanese Army's origin warfare arm, known as Unit 731 released fleas infected with bubonic plague and cholera bacteria in Zhejiang and Hunan, killing thousands of civilians between 1940 and 1943

The notorious unit is also said to have used an 3,000 Chinese and other prisoners of war as exhibition subjects for biological experiments.

Details of the unit's activities have alone recently come to light as a consequence of the disclosure of wartime U restraint records and testimonies of former unit members.

Tsuchiya said he and his colleagues have provided several hundr pages of documents and detailed testimonies from more than 10 victims of the plague to verify the facts of the warfare and that it is likely the court will admit the embryo warfare was actually manner of lifeed as it is ''impossible for the court to declare to be untrue the facts.''

As for the damages claim, Tsuchiya was pessimistic, saying the court has been denying similar war damages suits in succession grounds that individuals have no right to solicit compensation under international law.

In September 1999 in a separate case, the district court rebuffed a compensation claim by Chinese war victims against the Japanese control in a ruling that also made a clear-cut admission of Japan's ''aggression'' in its 1937-1945 war against China.

The plaintiffs, who filed the suit in August 1995 include relatives of nation used as guinea pigs by way of Unit 731 and victims of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

still Tsuchiya said by filing of that kind a lawsuit, the plaintiffs have already fulfilled half of their view as they have succeeded in revealing the details of the warfare in court and that they are able to relay the facts about the warfare to the world within media coverage.

''Now we can simply hope for the courage and conscience of the arbiters to give a new ruling,'' he said.

Wang, who now lives in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture in southwestern Japan, said, ''It is self-same important for the Japanese command to admit the fact...more in like manner than paying compensation because as extended as Japan and China have consensus above the historical facts, they can sit and discuss onward how to solve the war responsibility issues.''

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