OM :
TO:
Thank you for your letter of
enclosing one from your constituent
to
about compensation for former Prisoners of War of Japan.
This Government fully recognises how much the nation owes to all those who fought and died in the Far East during the Second World War. We shall never forget that great debt, nor the terrible sufferings of so many in Japanese prison camps.
Government.
asks about compensation from the Japanese This question was settled in the 1951 Treaty of Peace with Japan, following which the Allied Powers accepted that the Japanese had fully discharged their obligations.
Article 14 of the Treaty provided for reparations to be paid by Japan to the Allied States for "the damage and suffering caused by it during the war", by allowing the Allied States to dispose of Japanese assets under their jurisdiction. In the UK the sum so realised amounted to £3,005,321, which the British Government decided to make available to former Far Eastern Prisoners of war, or their dependants, and civilian internees, or their dependants, who submitted claims.
Under Article 16 of the Treaty the Japanese Government expressed its "desire to indemnify those members of the armed forces of the Allied Powers who suffered undue hardships while Prisoners of War of Japan". This article was an unusual provision in the Treaty and was included at the insistence of the UK. A sum of £4.5 million was paid by the Japanese Government, and of this the UK's share came to £1,636,281. In addition, £174,871 was contributed by the Thai Government in respect of the Burma-Siam railway. These sums were made available to former Far Eastern Prisoners of War and their dependants.
The total received by the UK for compensation therefore was £4,816,473. Compensation was paid to claimants in instalments between 1952 and 1956. Approximately 50,000 former Far Eastern Prisoners of War, or their dependants, received a total of £76.50 each and approximately 8,300 former civilian internees, or their dependants, received a total of £48.50 each. The level of compensation was less than had been proposed and less than the Government would have wished for, but reflected the fact that Japan's economy was in ruins and the wish of the other Allied States not repeat the mistakes of the Versailles
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