Groups of Korean and Taiwanese who were convicted of war crimes while serving in the Imperial Japanese military have been lobbying Japan for financial compensation, and some politicians support them:

A group of lawmakers plans to submit a bill to the Diet mandating government financial compensation for Korean and Taiwanese former Class B and Class C war criminals and their surviving families.

The move, led by Kenta Izumi, a Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) Lower House member, could come as early as the current Diet session.

At issue are those who worked as guards of POWs for the Imperial Japanese military during World War II. The non-Japanese were later denied the same pensions and other compensation paid to Japanese war criminals and their family members.

At the Allied Forces war trials, 321 Koreans and Taiwanese were convicted as “Japanese” of war crimes. The group included 23 Koreans and 26 Taiwanese who were executed.

The lawmakers’ group will propose the government pay 3 million yen in compensation to each former Class-B and C war criminal, in “a humanitarian spirit.”

Because people from Japan’s former colonies were stripped of Japanese citizenship after the war, the government excluded them all from military pensions and other assistance paid to former Japanese soldiers.

Izumi said he was greatly moved by the story of Lee Hyok Nae, a Korean who worked at a POW camp run by Japan in Thailand and was later convicted.

Lee, 83, is now chairman of Doshin-kai, a group representing former Korean war criminals that since 1955 has urged Japan to act on the issue.

If you’ve been reading Japan Probe since 2007, you might have read our post from last August about Lee’s lobbying efforts. Lee, who was convicted of forcing sick Australians POW’s to work themselves to death, is hoping that he and his “fallen comrades” will have their honor restored.