The Kyoto District Court ordered the state Thursday to pay 45 million yen in redress to 15 South Koreans over a 1945 ship explosion that killed 524 Korean forced laborers who were returning home after Japan's surrender, but ruled out an official apology.
Judge Satoshi Mizukami ordered the state to compensate 15 of the 80 plaintiffs who survived the tragedy and to relatives of the dead. The 80 had been seeking 3 billion yen.
Mizukami said it was confirmed the 15 survivors were actually on board the Ukishima Maru at the time of the accident but rejected claims by the other 65 plaintiffs because their presence aboard the ship could not be confirmed or because the claims from the relatives were groundless.
The court concluded that the government failed in its duty to transport the passengers safely, because a "legal relation," similar to a legal contract between transporters and passengers, had been established between the government and the passengers at that time.