It has emerged that the Japanese government was notified of Mitsubishi Material′s plan to apologize to American POWs forced into labor during World War Two，... before the apology was issued last month.
The news seems to reaffirm earlier speculation the Japanese government was in fact involved in the apology.
Connie Kim reports.
Prominent Japanese firm Mitsubishi Materials notified the government of its plan to apologize to American prisoners of war last month.
Seoul－based Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday on the comment made by Yukio Okamoto， an adviser to Japan－based Mitsubishi Materials Corporation， raising speculation that the firm had gotten permission for the apology from the government.
Okamoto also made clear that the apology was solely extended by Mitsubishi，... and said the government has previously reaffirmed that it already apologized to prisoners of war for their brutal treatment during wartime and it has no plans to compensate them.
Last month， the Japanese company issued a formal apology for using American POWs as slave laborers during World War Two.
In response， the Japanese Embassy in Washington had said the apology was made solely on Mitsubishi′s initiative and that the government was not involved.
Japan′s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga refrained from commenting on the matter.
In his remarks， Okamoto drew a fine line between the prisoners of war and the tens of thousands of Korean victims of the forced labor program.
Okamoto said Koreans were technically Japanese citizens during Japan′s colonial rule， and their situation was totally different from that of the American POWs.
An estimated 65－hundred Koreans were forced into labor at Mitsubishi′s affiliates， with more than four thousand forced to work at Mitsubishi Mining， the predecessor of Mitsubishi Materials.
Connie Kim， Arirang News.
