Wang Min, one of 11 Chinese seeking redress from Kajima Corp. for forced labor during the war, died of heart failure Saturday at a hospital in Hebei Province, northern China. He was 81.
Wang headed a group of former laborers at the Hanaoka mine operated by Kajima's predecessor in the Tohoku region. He and 10 other survivors of an uprising and family members of the victims were the first Chinese to seek compensation for Japan's wartime atrocities through the Japanese courts.
Wang led anti-Japanese struggles in China after joining the Chinese Communist Party. He was captured by the Japanese army and brought to Odate, Akita Prefecture, during the war to work in the mine under severe conditions in 1944.
On June 30, 1945, the slave laborers rebelled in what has been called the "Hanaoka Incident." The protesters were later tortured or executed.
In 1989, Wang established the group for the former Hanaoka laborers in China and together with 10 others filed the suit against Kajima in June 1995, demanding 60.5 million yen in compensation.
In December 1997, the Tokyo District Court rejected the suit, saying the right to make such claims had expired. The plaintiffs and Kajima are negotiating a settlement on the claim following a September 1999 Tokyo High Court recommendation.
Of the 986 Chinese brought to the Hanaoka mine, 418 are said to have died there.
This includes the 113 executed after the uprising.