HIROSHIMA —

More than 100 South Korean atomic bomb survivors filed a lawsuit with the Hiroshima District Court on Friday demanding the Japanese government pay compensation for psychological suffering caused by its previous denial of healthcare benefits to overseas victims. The 128 survivors demanded that the state pay them 1.2 million yen each.
 
In a landmark ruling in November 2007, the Supreme Court declared illegal administrative guidance issued in 1974 by the then Ministry of Health and Welfare to local governments that limited the benefits to atomic-bomb survivors living in Japan. The ruling prompted the government to decide to pay 1 million yen in compensation to each overseas survivor recognized as an atomic-bomb victim in lawsuits lodged against the state. The plaintiffs said that they suffered psychological pain over a long period of time because of being forced to give up on government support under the 1974 rule.
 

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  YuriOtani at 08:20 AM JST - 6th December

  I do not know why they sue Japan and not the United States. Japan did not drop the bomb, it was America that did this crime against humanity. Their pain and suffering was not caused by Japan but the United States! They are the only ones in the history to have used this weapon of mass destruction!

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