Government Apologizes; Companies that used Slave Labor Silent.

Yesterday in Tokyo, the Japanese foreign minister, Katsuya Okada, said to an American group of six former World War II prisoners of war, "I offer my deep, heartfelt apology for the inhuman treatment you suffered."

90-year-old Lester Tenney, a survivor the Bataan Death March in 1942, and leader of the POW group's, said, "he welcomed the government's apology but still seeks recognition from the private companies that 'used and abused' prisoners in their mines and factories, often under brutal conditions." Mr Tenney said, "At no time have we gotten from these private companies just a letter. These private companies have kept quiet for 65 years. It is an insult, because by their keeping quiet they are hoping we will die off.'"

After surviving the death march, Mr Tenney was taken to Japan and forced to work as a slave laborer for Mitsui Mining Co. — now Nippon Coke and Engineering Co. This company and others, if they are doing business in America, need to be exposed, and their customers need to be informed of the companies' horrible mistreatment of American World War Two POWs.