Chinese labor forced to work for Japan during World War II will now continue lawsuits against the Japanese government, after Mitsubishi Materials Corp reached an agreement to apologize and pay compensation.

Under the settlement with the company, Chinese who were forced to work at coal mines and other facilities in Japan will receive an apology and individual payments of 100 thousand yuan, or about 15 thousand US dollars.

But the survivors insist that the Japanese government should also apologize because Chinese laborers were above all the victims of Japanese government persecution.

About 40 thousand Chinese were sent to Japan in the early 1940s as forced laborers to make up for a domestic labor shortage.

Many died due to violence and malnutrition amid harsh treatment.