The government has appealed to the Supreme Court a ruling that ordered it to pay 48 million yen in damages to former South Korean slave laborers who were in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing in 1945, Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry officials said Friday.
On Jan. 19, the Hiroshima High Court ordered the state to pay the damages to 40 plaintiffs affected by the bombing, reversing a lower court ruling rejecting their demand.
The high court determined that the government is responsible for financially supporting A-bomb survivors even if they are abroad. It said a 1974 decree by the then Health and Welfare Ministry limiting the range of survivors eligible for support to only those living in Japan goes against the 1994 law concerning special care for survivors.