SEOUL (Kyodo) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. has agreed to open negotiations on compensating women in South Korea who were forced to work for the company during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule, a South Korean civic group said Thursday.

The firm conveyed its intention Wednesday to hold negotiations to a Japanese civic group supporting the South Korean forced workers, according to the South Korean group based in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

"When we visited the company, its management appeared uncomfortable about South Korean people's anger over the issue," Lee Guk Eon, general director of the South Korean civic group, told Yonhap news agency.

The group visited the company's headquarters in Tokyo last month and urged management officials to deal with the issue by paying appropriate compensation and making an apology, Yonhap said.

Unexploded shells

NAHA , Okinawa Pref. (Kyodo) The Ground Self-Defense Force disposed of 902 unexploded shells Wednesday after they were found buried on the grounds of a restaurant in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, police said Thursday.

No one was evacuated during the operation, but it is rare for such a large number of unexploded shells to be found at one time, according to the Okinawa Prefectural Police.

The unexploded shells included 478 mortar rounds and grenades, two rocket bombs and rifle ammunition. All were unused and buried several meters in the ground, with some found to be corroded, the police and the GSDF said.