Chinese Victims of Wartime Chemical Weapons Demand Compensation From Japan

Chinese victims of wartime chemical weapons demand compensation from Japan

TOKYO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — Two Chinese victims injured by chemical weapons left over in China by Japanese aggressor troops during World War II on Thursday filed a lawsuit to the Tokyo District Court, demanding compensation from the Japanese government.

Four Japanese lawyers, representing two Chinese teenage victims,filed the charges to the court in the morning.

The Japanese government has deployed and abandoned chemical weapons in China against international law, resulting in the injury to two Chinese children, the lawsuit said.

The Japanese government acknowledged the fact that the two children were injured by left-over chemical weapons by Japan but failed to make proper compensation, the plaintiffs said, demandingcompensation totaling 66 million yen (around 617,000 U.S. dollars).

In July 2004, Zhou Tong, Liu Hao and two other Chinese childrenfound a bomb while bathing in a river in Dunhua, northeastern Jilin Province. The leakage from the bomb stained the skin of Zhouand Liu, then aged 12 and 8 respectively, and led to swollen and cankered skin around their hands and feet shortly afterwards.

After the incident, a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman admitted that the injury was caused by the chemical weapons abandoned by the Japanese aggressor troops during World War II.

The two minors have been suffering from the infection till now,with Zhou unable to attend school due to severe coughing while Liu’s eyesight has been seriously damaged.

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