High court overturns order to pay benefits to South Korean Hibakusha

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High court overturns order to pay benefits to South Korean Hibakusha

The Fukuoka High Court on January 22 rejected a lower court decision that ordered Nagasaki City to pay 830,000 yen in back healthcare benefits to relatives of Choi Gye Chol, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki (Hibakusha) who later returned to South Korea and lived there until he died in 2004 at age 78.

The ruling supported the defendants' claim that Choi has already lost his right to receive the benefits based on the Hibakusha Aid Law due to the statute of limitations.

Exposed to radiation in Nagasaki in 1945, Choi received a Hibakusha certificate when he visited Japan in 1980. But his allowance was suspended after he returned to South Korea in July 1980.

Two months before his death, Choi filed a lawsuit demanding that the national government and the Nagasaki City government pay a total of 9.6 million yen in healthcare benefits and compensation. The relatives of Choi continued the lawsuit in 2004.

They had filed separate claims stating that Hibakusha living outside of Japan should be allowed to apply for healthcare benefits and funeral expenses even though they do not live in Japan, and won a victory in September 2005 at the Fukuoka High Court. The Hibakusha Aid Law was revised in November 2005 and now allows Hibakusha living overseas to apply for the benefits in their countries once they receive a Hibakusha certificate in Japan.
- Akahata, January 23, 2007