
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 16, 1995                   TAG: 9501250011
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LONDON                                   LENGTH: Short

FORMER POWS TO FILE SUIT AGAINST JAPAN

Thousands of Allied servicemen forced into slave labor by Japan during World War II apparently plan to sue the Japanese government after a plan to compensate them collapsed.

A London newspaper, The Independent, reported over the weekend that 20,000 former prisoners of war from the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand will file a multimillion-dollar suit Jan. 30 in Tokyo against the Japanese government. The suit will seek about $23,500 for each former prisoner, the newspaper said.

Japan, in violation of international regulations, forced World War II POWs to work in shipyards, mines and jungles. The prisoners were starved and beaten, and some were executed.

A 1951 treaty that re-established diplomatic relations did not affect individual compensation claims by ex-prisoners of war from Britain and itsformer colonies.

by CNB