The welfare ministry filed an appeal Tuesday against a Nagasaki District Court ruling that ordered the state to compensate a South Korean survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing for health-care benefits he was denied.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry asked the Fukuoka High Court to overturn the Dec. 26 ruling that ordered the state to pay 1.03 million yen to Lee Kang Young, 74. Lee claimed the 1994 Atomic Bomb Victims Relief Law fails to stipulate that A-bomb survivors are excluded from receiving benefits while living outside Japan.

The court said Lee should be paid the benefits that were canceled when he left Japan after a brief stay for treatment in 1994. Courts have been split over the issue of health-care allowances for survivors living abroad.

In 1999, the Hiroshima District Court ruled that it is legal for A-bomb survivors abroad to be excluded from the benefits under the 1994 relief law. Last June, the Osaka District Court said the 1994 relief law may violate the Constitution because it excludes those living outside Japan.

The state has appealed the Osaka court ruling. The ministry said it believes a ruling from a higher court is necessary since the district court rulings are divided.

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said Tuesday that the ministry will decide by spring whether to establish a special fund -- outside the 1994 law -- to provide victims abroad with cash benefits.

Meanwhile, the ministry will begin support measures for A-bomb survivors living abroad by bearing their travel expenses when they visit Japan for medical treatment from fiscal 2002.

However, many of the victims living abroad hope the government will provide them with benefits under the relief law, according to their supporters in Japan.