Fukuda extended the apology when meeting with representatives of a group of war-displaced Japanese who had sued the government for failing to give enough support to them. It was the first such apology made by a Japanese prime minister.
Fukuda said the special group of Japanese went through hardships beyond imagination after the war. "I'm sorry that we've been late to notice (the issue)," the premier was quoted by Kyodo News as telling the representatives at his official residence.
War-displaced Japanese were called "war orphans" in Japan. They were brought up in Chinese families. Around 2,500 of them returned to Japan between 1976 and 1999. Most of them speak little Japanese and have led hard lives.
They blamed their hardships on the Japanese government's failure to support them and started to sue the state from Dec. 2002.
They decided to drop a total of 15 suits in July and agreed to accept the government and the ruling party's new set of financial support measures, which will take effect Jan. 1.
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