Japan's Mitsubishi Materials Corp apologized Sunday for using captured American soldiers as slave laborers during WWII, but so far still hasn't apologized to the families of Chinese laborers. [Special coverage]
At a ceremony in Los Angeles, a representative for Mitsubishi Materials Corporation apologized for using captured American soldiers as slave laborers.
"Today we apologize remorsefully for the tragic events in our past," Mitsubishi Materials Senior Executive Officer Hikaru Kimura told an audience at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.
Mitsubishi Materials is the first private corporation to express such regret, but it came too late as most victims were dead a long time ago.
It was reported that about 12,000 American prisoners of war were put into forced labor by the Japanese government and private companies seeking to fill a wartime labor shortage, of whom more than 1,100 died.
But meanwhile in China, reports said the number of Chinese forced laborers during the war was even higher. About 40,000 Chinese were forced into working under very harsh conditions in Japan during the same period , among them 7,000 died due to persecution or extremely harsh conditions.
Mitsubishi Materials Corp's predecessor, Mitsubishi Mining, as well as another Japanese mining company, exploited over 1,700 of the Chinese laborers that died.
Reports said Chinese victims and their families have sued the two companies, requesting apology and compensation, but so far Mitsubishi hasn't done anything for the Chinese victims and families.
