Japan’s foreign minister apologizes to visiting group of US POWs, says treatment was brutal

Japan foreign minister apologizes to US POWs

TOKYO — Japan’s foreign minister has apologized to former World War II prisoners of war who are visiting from the United States and says they were treated inhumanely.

The six POWs and relatives of two who died who were in Japan on Monday are the first group of U.S. POWs to visit with government sponsorship.

The group’s leader, 90-year-old Lester Tenney, said he welcomed the government’s apology but still seeks recognition from the private companies that used prisoners in their mines and factories, often under brutal conditions. Tenney survived the Bataan Death March in 1942.

POW groups from other countries have been invited the Japan previously. Japan surrendered in 1945, ending World War II.