The government, to settle a damages suit, has agreed to pay ¥1.1 million to survivors and relatives of victims of the 1945 atomic bombings who are living abroad.
It is the first time the government has settled with the relative of a survivor who lacked official certification, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers. One of the two relatives from Brazil represented a woman who did not have an atomic bomb survivor's handbook.
The woman, who was exposed to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and died in 1999 at age 89 after moving to Brazil, was recognized as a survivor based only on a disaster victim certificate she received in 1945, the lawyers said.
A total of 53 plaintiffs — including 51 survivors living in South Korea and two in Brazil — filed the damages suit with the Hiroshima District Court in May 2011.