Two former Dutch prisoners of war who were detained in Nagasaki during World War II and survived the 1945 atomic bombing of the city applied Thursday for recognition by the government as radiation illness sufferers so they can receive medical benefits.
Ronald Scholte, 84, who resides in the southern Netherlands, and Armand Busselaar, 84, from The Hague, filed the application with the city through Nobuto Hirano, a representative of a Nagasaki-based group supporting atomic bomb survivors abroad.
The move comes on the heels of a legal amendment passed in June that enables survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima who live outside Japan to apply for recognition without coming to the country.