NAGASAKI (Kyodo) The city of Nagasaki has issued an atomic bomb survivor's certificate to an ex-Dutch POW wounded by the August 1945 U.S. atomic bombing, the city said Wednesday.
Ronald Scholte, 84, filed for the certificate, which entitles him to health allowances, with the Japanese Embassy in The Hague in January. He is the first ex-POW to get such a passbook without visiting Japan.
Scholte got the passbook after a law was amended to allow overseas A-bomb victims to be certified without coming to Japan. The certificate will be delivered to Scholte soon via the Foreign Ministry.
Scholte asked the city last September to conduct a preliminary examination on the issuance of the certificate through a Japanese supporter who visited the Netherlands.
Nagasaki acknowledged that Scholte should be counted as a victim of the Aug. 9, 1945, bombing, based on prison camp records and other items.
Japan issues the health certificates to those who survived the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but are suffering from related health problems.