By Miya Tanaka

HIROSHIMA, Aug. 6 Kyodo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged support for atomic bomb victims at Sunday's memorial ceremony in Hiroshima, but did not say whether the state would appeal a court ruling on a lawsuit to recognize a group of people as suffering from A-bomb-related illness.

"As there are areas which are highly technical (in the ruling), we're now examining it carefully," Koizumi told reporters after attending the ceremony marking the 61st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945.

He made the comment in the wake of calls from the plaintiffs in the lawsuit for the government not to appeal the decision.

The Hiroshima District Court ruled Friday that the group of 41 plaintiffs should be certified as suffering from illness caused by atomic bomb radiation, voiding an administrative action to reject their applications for state recognition of their infirmity.

The ruling was the second decision by a Japanese court among a series of similar lawsuits filed by about 180 plaintiffs in courts around the country, following one at the Osaka District Court in May which also ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.

Both rulings, though rejecting the plaintiffs' claims for compensation, raised questions over the current government criteria in issuing such certification.

The plaintiffs have the atomic bomb survivors' certificates, but they need to undergo another government screening to have their illnesses recognized as being caused by atomic bomb radiation. If recognized, they can receive special medical allowances.

As of the end of March, among 259,556 people holding the atomic bomb survivors' certificates, only 2,280, or 0.8 percent, had been recognized as sufferers of atomic-bomb diseases, according to health ministry officials.

The plaintiffs in the Hiroshima case have called on political leaders to accept the ruling so that they will have a "life worth living," which may not be so long as they are already elderly.

The atomic bomb survivors' average age was 73.9 as of March 31.

During Sunday's memorial ceremony held at the Peace Memorial Park, Koizumi stressed that the government has been providing "comprehensive" support to the atomic bomb survivors and that it will continue to promote such measures according to their actual situation "in all sincerity."

But Sunao Tsuboi, who heads an atomic bomb survivors group in Hiroshima Prefecture, said he was not much moved by Koizumi's speech.

Tsuboi said Koizumi did not attend a post-ceremony gathering where representatives of seven groups of atomic bomb survivors met with the health minister and other senior government officials to call for support. This left survivors feeling "ignored," he said.

During the gathering, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki said the government's criteria on recognizing atomic-bomb illness are based on "an internationally accepted knowledge."

The Hiroshima District Court had said the state's yardstick for the certification has "various limits and weak points" as it does not reflect fully the radiation exposure brought on by residual radiation and internal radiation.

2006-08-06 21:15:39JST