Ex-POW seeks apology, compensation

[David]

CANBERRA (Reuters) – An Australian World War Two veteran who was forced to work in a coal mine owned by the family of Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso will visit Tokyo next week to push his case for compensation and an apology for his treatment.

The 88-year-old former prisoner of war, Joe Coombs, is due to meet Aso Corporation officials, but hopes to also have a meeting with Aso after one with Japanese lawmakers on Thursday.

Coombs was one of about 300 POWs forced to work in Aso Mining's coal mines in 1945 after two years working in Japanese shipyards.

In January, Aso acknowledged for the first time that a family company had used POWs as mine workers during the war, and that the government had been mistaken when it denied the fact when he was foreign minister.

"I'm hoping for an apology and compensation, but I don't hold out great hopes for the compensation part," Coombs told Reuters on Friday.

He was with Australian Army and fought in Malaya and Singapore, before being taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore in 1942. He arrived in Japan on December 7, 1942, the anniversary of pearl harbor.

Coombs, who has not been back to Japan since World War Two, has been campaigning for more than 60 years for Japan to recognize its treatment of prisoners of war.

In September 2007 he unsuccessfully sought a meeting with former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group's summit in Sydney.

The issue gathered new momentum when Aso became prime minister in September 2008, with opposition lawmaker Yukihisa Fujita pursuing the issue in the Japanese parliament.

"The fact the prime minister's family owned the coal mine we worked in has brought it all to light," Coombs said.

A grandson of a former prime minister, Aso was only a child when the family firm, Aso Mining, used allied POWs and forced laborers from Korea during World War Two. Historians said the mine had a reputation for brutality.

Aso has said he was too young at the time to be aware of the company's activities.

Over the years, Aso Mining faded and its successor companies, including Aso Cement, which Taro Aso ran from 1973 to 1979, have distanced themselves from the issue.