The Kyoto District Court on Wednesday rejected a suit filed by former wartime Chinese laborers and the family of one who died, who were seeking compensation from a steel producer and the government for forcibly bringing them to Japan in 1944 to work in nickel mines.
Five former laborers, including Liu Zonggen, 72, and relatives of a former laborer now deceased, were together demanding 130 million yen in compensation from the government and Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co., as well as an apology.
The plaintiffs said they were forced to work at the Tokyo-based firm's nickel factory at the Oeyama mines in Kaya, Kyoto Prefecture, after being forcibly brought from China.