NAGASAKI, July 6 Kyodo - The Nagasaki prefectural government said Tuesday it will dispatch a group of physicians to South Korea to conduct health checks for World War II atomic bomb sufferers there.

The local government will send the doctors between July 20 and 25 to South Korea for the first time as part of its support program for A-bomb sufferers abroad.

Such visiting health checks have been conducted for Japanese A-bomb sufferers in North and South America, and this is the first time health checks are being conducted abroad for foreign nationals, the local government said.

There are about 2,200 A-bomb sufferers in South Korea, about half of the victims living abroad.

The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were annihilated by U.S. atomic bombs in August 1945 that killed foreigners as well as Japanese.

The Nagasaki prefectural government aims to narrow the gap between the support programs for Japanese and foreign sufferers of the A-bomb. It will dispatch five doctors and several public health nurses to Hapchon in southern South Korea and will see about 80 people at the nursing home for such victims.

The Japanese doctors are expected to give medical consultations for the victims based on the medical records and diagnosis prepared by the South Korean Red Cross Society as Japanese doctors are not allowed to conduct medical practice in South Korea.

The local government said it intends to pin down the problems the South Korean victims face and also to eliminate their concerns on the after effects of the bombing.

The Japanese government provides survivors abroad with financial benefits under the Atomic Bomb Victims Relief Law, which requires A-bomb survivors to come to Japan and apply for health cards in person.

Although the government began an aid program in fiscal 2002 that includes payment for travel costs, the policy of requiring survivors to come to Japan and apply has raised concerns given their advanced age. ==Kyodo