Veterans to have last word in sorry tale

Japan's Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, the Government said yesterday.

Downing Street sources said Mr Major was ''obviously pleased'' with

the terms of the letter, received last month, in which Mr Murayama

expressed ''remorse and apology'' for the sufferings inflicted by the

Imperial Army on civilians and prisoners of war.

However, a spokesman for Mr Major made it clear it was for veterans

and other victims to judge. ''The apology is not directed specifically

at the Prime Minister. It is really aimed at those who were affected.

They are the people who must judge whether it is satisfactory.''

Confusion has surrounded the apology since it was announced. Veterans

have complained that it was made by Mr Murayama personally, and not the

Japanese Government on behalf of the Japanese people, and that it failed

to make any offer of compensation.

On Saturday, veterans' anger was increased when Mr Murayama appeared

to deny that the letter to Mr Major, intended to congratulate him on his

victory in the Tory leadership contest, was meant as an apology.

Yesterday, the Japanese embassy issued a statement insisting the

letter was indeed an apology. ''Prime Minister Murayama's comments on 12

August in no way contradict the view which he expressed in the letter.

There is no change on the part of Prime Minister Murayama and the

Japanese Government regarding that view,'' it declared.

The Downing Street official also said the Government would ''continue

to make plain to the Japanese Government the strength of feeling in this

country about the issue of compensation''. The Japanese Government is

being sued for #14,000 in compensation for each of about 73,000 Pacific

war veterans.

Today, attention will focus on commemorations of the 50th anniversary

of the Japanese surrender, when Mr Murayama is expected to make a

long-awaited formal and public apology for Japan's war crimes.

Former prisoners of war are threatening a ''militant'' campaign

against Japan if Mr Murayama fails to deliver an apology.

Solicitor Martyn Day, who represents the Japanese Labour Camps

Survivors' Association and the Association of British Civilian Internees

Far East Region, said the direction of their campaign rested on what Mr

Murayama said today.

He added: ''There is an overwhelming feeling that until the Japanese

apologise, people can never go forward. There is a lot of anger over

what has happened in the last three days. There is a lot of resentment

that the Japanese Government cannot get it right even at this late

stage.''

Mr Arthur Titherington, 73, secretary of the survivors' association,

said: ''We will have to take a more militant approach if we do not get

our apology. We have talked about boycotting Japanese goods. We would

need John Major to stand behind us personally.''

* Sir Hector Monro, Tory MP for Dumfries, yesterday demanded an

official apology from Mr Murayama and called on the Japanese Government

to pay full compensation.

Sir Hector, a Second World War RAF veteran who helped with the

transport home from the Far East of liberated PoWs, said: ''I think

really it would be far better if the prime minister made a clean breast

and made a genuine apology on behalf of the Japanese nation.

''Step two is whether or not they will pay compensation. When you hear

the first-hand accounts of what our prisoners were subjected to, the

Japanese owe us a great deal more than the pathetic statement we got

this week.''

Sir Hector was launching an information service in St Andrew's House,

Edinburgh, to reunite veterans.

Veterans unable to call at St Andrew's House are advised to telephone

the Vetlink staff at 0131 557 9804.