The Fukuoka High Court on Monday overturned a landmark lower court ruling and denied redress to 15 Chinese men forced to work in Japanese coal mines during World War II and said the statute of limitations has expired in the case.
In the first-ever ruling at the high court level on a series of lawsuits filed by former Chinese slave laborers across Japan, the court acknowledged, however, that the government and Mitsui Mining Co. shared joint liability for bringing the men from China to Japan and forcing them to work in the mines.
The court rejected the government's argument that it enjoys immunity from liability for damages stemming from the exercise of state power under the Meiji Constitution.