HAPCHON, South Korea, July 21 Kyodo - A team of physicians from Japan began health checks Wednesday for the first time for non-Japanese World War II atomic bomb survivors in Hapchon, South Korea, and found that some patients may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The team was dispatched by the Nagasaki prefectural and city governments as part of Japan's support program to improve treatment for atomic bomb survivors who are foreign nationals and live abroad.

Nagasaki Prefecture said the same day it plans to provide similar checkups for South Korean survivors in other places by next March.

Such health checks have been conducted for Japanese atomic bomb survivors living in North and South America, but it is the first time they are being provided abroad for foreign nationals.

''There were patients who showed symptoms of PTSD,'' said Hideki Mori, a physician and deputy head of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital.

Mori, four other doctors and some nurses are scheduled to continue the checks through Friday for 76 patients at a welfare facility for atomic bomb survivors in Hapchon.

The doctors on Wednesday provided individual consultations for the people based on medical records and diagnoses prepared by the South Korean Red Cross Society as Japanese doctors are not allowed to conduct medical practice in South Korea.

''I feel more at ease now as they listened to me attentively,'' said Song Im Bok, 71, who was 12 when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. ''I want them to continue (the checkups).''

Around 2,200 atomic bomb survivors live in South Korea, about half of the total number of survivors residing outside of Japan.

Physical therapists on the team will also train staff members of the Hapchon welfare facility on treatment methods.

The Nagasaki prefectural government has said it aims to narrow the gap between the support programs for Japanese and foreign atomic bomb survivors living abroad.

The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by atomic bombs dropped by the United States in August 1945.

The Japanese government provides survivors abroad with financial benefits under the Atomic Bomb Victims Relief Law, but they are required to travel 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, it is often difficult for patients to go to Japan due to their advanced age. ==Kyodo