Ex-POW, kin disappointed at lack of Aso apology over wartime labor+

TOKYO, June 19 Kyodo -
A former Australian Allied prisoner of war and a son of a British POW, who are
visiting Japan to seek an apology from Prime Minister Taro Aso over wartime
forced labor at a coalmine owned by his father, expressed disappointment Friday
as the prime minister refused to see them.

Joseph Coombs, 88, a former POW from Sydney, and James McAnulty, 62, from
Glasgow, Scotland, whose father Patrick James worked at Yoshikuma mine in
Fukuoka Prefecture, told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club
of Japan that the Japanese leader should be held responsible for the past
conduct of his family's company.
Coombs said the Japanese government tried to arrange a meeting with a senior
Foreign Ministry official instead, but that he thought it would be ''ridiculous
to see somebody else,'' adding, ''The fact that he (Aso) denied us a right to
see him was just very disappointing.''
McAnulty also said it was ''very disappointing'' that Aso refused to meet them.
Coombs and McAnulty's father were among 300 Allied POWs who were based at camp
No. 26, which was assigned to the mine run by then Aso Mining Co.
Coombs, who worked at the mine between May 1945 and the end of World War II in
August that year, said he had to work 12 hours a day and some of his co-workers
at the mine died of malnutrition.
McAnulty said his father, who died in 1971 at the age of 62, had spoken of his
''horrible'' POW experiences almost every week since McAnulty was about six
years old.
Patrick James was at the Yoshikuma mine between June and September 1945 and he
related stores of the hard labor, hunger and endless abuse by the Japanese that
he experienced, the son said.
Last December, government documents confirming the use of forced labor by Aso
Mining were uncovered in Japan, following the discovery of similar material in
the U.S. National Archives.
Even though Aso, 68, was just a toddler when the POWs were engaged in forced
labor, the two said he should still offer an apology and compensation to them
because he is a ''high-powered'' representative of his family.
Both Coombs and McAnulty have sent letters to Aso seeking an apology and
redress, but they have never received a reply.
''There is a global trend of redressing historical injustices that has been
taking place in every liberal democracy since the end of the Cold War,''
McAnulty pointed out.
The Scot expressed hope that Japan will start education programs for young
children to make sure that the country never repeats human rights abuses.
McAnulty also said he will tell Scottish children what happened to his father
in Japan during the war.
On Tuesday, Coombs and McAnulty visited Aso Co. in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture,
which is headed by the prime minister's brother Yutaka. The company ''refused
to admit anything went wrong at the mine'' but a public relations official
promised to continue dialogue with them, according to McAnulty.
==Kyodo