S.Korean atomic bomb victims defeated in damages claim lawsuit against gov't

South Korean survivors from the U.S. atomic bombings of two Japanese cities to end the World War II were defeated once again on Wednesday in damages claim lawsuit against the South Korean government.

The lawsuit had been filed by 141 South Korean victims from the U.S. dropping of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. They had demanded 10 million won (about 9,000 U.S. dollars) per person in damages from their government.

The Seoul Northern District Court ruled that the government's actions were not sufficient for the victims, but it said the government is making diplomatic efforts to garner damages from Japan, according to Yonhap news agency report.

About 70,000 South Koreans, who forcibly or voluntarily moved to Japan during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, are known to have been victimized during the U.S. atomic bombings of the Japanese cities.

The South Korean victims failed to receive proper cure and rewards from both the South Korean and Japanese governments, dragging down their survival rate to about 3.5 percent. It was much lower than the Japanese surviving rate of some 30 percent.

South Korea's constitutional court ruled in August 2011 that the government should make efforts to help the atomic bomb victims receive damages from the Japanese government.

Two years later, 79 victims filed a damages claim lawsuit against the South Korean government, but the court dismissed the suit in June last year.

A Similar lawsuit was filed by 230 victims against the government, but they lost the case in the Seoul Southern District Court. Endit