The Osaka District Court has dismissed a damages lawsuit filed by relatives of Koreans who were in Hiroshima or Nagasaki at the time of the atomic bombings in 1945, citing the statute of limitations.

The court's decision on Wednesday backed the government's stance that relatives can no longer seek redress from Tokyo if they failed to file a lawsuit within 20 years of their family members' deaths.

About 150 relatives of 31 Koreans who were affected by the atomic bombings during World War II claimed it was illegal for the central government to deny payments for health care and other allowances because the victims were no longer living in Japan.