Japanese auto corporation Mitsubishi has made a formal apology regarding their use in World War II of US POWs as forced labor.
Senior executive Hikaru Kimura expressed regret at a ceremony in Los Angeles that prisoners had been put to work in mines operated by the company.
One of the few surviving POWs, James Murphy, 94, was there to accept the apology and said this was “a glorious day… for 70 years we wanted this.”
Photo from BBC
This is considered the first apology of this nature made by a Japanese company.
Murphy added:
“I listened very carefully to Mr Kimura’s statement of apology and found it very very sincere, humble and revealing,” he added.
“We hope that we can go ahead now and have a better understanding, a better friendship and closer ties with our ally, Japan.”
Relatives of other former prisoners were present at the ceremony.
From the BBC:
Mitsubishi is acting independently of the Japanese government which has already issued a formal apology to American prisoners.
Japanese government officials say that it is an important gesture ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in August.
Earlier this year, Mr. Murphy told news outlets that his experience working at a copper mine in Hanawa for a year was “a complete horror”.
“It was slavery in every way: no food, no medicine, no clothing, no sanitation,” he said, adding that it was all the more galling to know that Mitsubishi built fighter aircraft used against American forces. Despite no monetary compensation offered, Murphy still said that the apology was a “big deal”.
It is not clear why this apology has come so long after the war.
The Japanese government formally issued an apology to American former POWs five years ago.