CLAIMS OF CERTAIN INHABITANTS OF THE RYUKYU ISLANDS WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1965 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE FAR EAST AND THE PACIFIC Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:20 a.m., in room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. William T. Murphy presiding. Mr. MURPHY. The meeting will come to order. I am sorry that the chairman, Mr. Zablocki, is tied up at a very important meeting. The House is going into session at 11 o'clock so we will now proceed. We meet today in open session to hear witnesses in support of House Joint Resolution 251 which was introduced by the Honorable Spark M. Matsunaga, Member of Congress, from Hawaii. The resolution would authorize a contribution to certain inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands for death and injury to persons, and for use of and damage to private property, arising from acts and omissions of the U.S. Armed Forces, or members thereof, after August 15, 1945, and before April 28, 1952. House Joint Resolution 251 under consideration today is identical to the draft resolution contained in Executive Communication 311, submitted by the Department of the Army to the Speaker of the House January 8, 1965. We will insert House Joint Resolution 251 and Executive Communication 311 at this point in the record. (The documents referred to follow :) [H.J. Res. 251, 89th Cong., 1st sess.] JOINT RESOLUTION To authorize a contribution to certain inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands for death and injury to persons, and for use of and damage to private property, arising from acts and omissions of the United States Armed Forces, or members thereof, after August 15, 1945, and before April 28, 1952 Whereas certain persons of the Ryukyu Islands suffered damages incident to the activities of the Armed Forces of the United States, or members thereof, after the surrender of Japanese forces in the Ryukyus on August 15, 1945, and before the effective date of the Treaty of Peace with Japan on April 28, 1952; Whereas article 19 of the Treaty of Peace with Japan extinguished the legal liability of the United States for any claims of Japanese nationals, including Ryukyuans, with the result that the United States has made no compensation for the above-mentioned damages (except for use of and damage to land during the period from July 1. 1950. to April 28, 1952); 1 Whereas it is particularly consonant with the concern of the United States, as the sole administering authority in the Ryuku Islands, for the welfare of the Ryukyuan people, that those Ryukyuans who suffered damages incident to the activities of the United States Armed Forces, or members thereof, should be compensated therefor; Whereas payment of ex gratia compensation, by advancing the welfare of the Ryukyuan people, will promote the security interest, foreign policy, and foreign relations of the United States; and Whereas the High Commissioner of the Ryukyu Islands has considered the evidence regarding these claims, and has determined, in an equitable manner, those claims which are meritorious, and the amounts thereof: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the United States should make an ex gratia contribution to the persons determined by the High Commissioner of the Ryukyu Islands to be meritorious claimants, in the amounts determined by him, and that the Secretary of the Army or his designee should, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, pay such amounts to the claimants or their legal heirs, as a civil function of the Department of the Army; and be it further Resolved, That no funds appropriated under this joint resolution shall be disbursed to satisfy claims, or portions thereof, which have been satisfied by contributions made by the Government of Japan. SEC. 2. There is authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $22,000,000 to carry out the provisions of this joint resolution, which funds are authorized to remain available for two years from the effective date of their appropriation. Any funds unobligated by the end of that period shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States. SEC. 3. No remuneration on account of services rendered on behalf of any claimant in connection with any claim shall exceed 5 per centum of the total amount paid, pursuant to the provisions of this joint resolution, on such claim. Fees already paid for such services shall be deducted from the amounts authorized under this joint resolution. Any agreement to the contrary shall be unlawful and void. Whoever, in the United States or elsewhere, demands or receives, on account of services so rendered, any remuneration in excess of the maximum permitted by this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twelve months, or both. (Executive Communication 311) T Hon. JOHN W. MCCORMACK, Speaker of the House of Representatives. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Washington, D.C., January 8, 1965. DEAR MR. SPEAKER: A draft of legislation to authorize a contribution to certain inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands for death and injury of persons, and for use of and damage to private property, arising from acts and omissions of the U.S. Armed Forces, or members thereof, after August 15, 1945, and before April 28, 1952, is enclosed. This proposal is part of the Department of Defense legislative program for the 89th Congress, and the Bureau of the Budget advises that, from the standpoint of the administration's program, there is no objection to the presentation of this proposal for the consideration of the Congress. The Department of the Army has been designated the executive agency of the Department of Defense for the civil administration of the Ryukyu Islands, and is therefore the representative of the Department of Defense for this legislation. The Department of State concurs in this proposal, from the viewpoint of foreign policy. It is recommended that the proposal be enacted by the Congress. PURPOSE OF THE LEGISLATION The purpose of the proposed legislation is stated in the title. background information will be useful in considering this bill. A. Historical background The following This area was The Ryukyu Islands became an integral part of Japan in 1879. regarded as enemy territory by the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, and was invaded by them on March 26, 1945. Hostilities ended in the Ryukyus on June 21, 1945, and Japanese forces there formally surrendered on August 15, 1945. Full military government was established in the islands on September 21, 1945. For purposes of control and administration, the Ryukyus were severed from Japan, and Japanese postwar legislation was not, of itself, extended to this area. The Treaty of Peace with Japan, which was signed by the United States and other nations at San Francisco on September 8, 1951, entered into force on April 28, 1952. By article 3 thereof, Japan agreed to concur in any proposal of the United States to place the Ryukyu Islands under the United Nations trusteeship system, with the United States as the sole administering authority. Pending the making of such a proposal, Japan gave to the United States the right to exercise all and any powers of administration, legislation, and jurisdiction over the territory and inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands. The northernmost group of these islands, known as the Amami Oshima group, was returned to Japanese jurisdiction on December 25, 1953, and is no longer considered a part of the Ryukyu Islands, as they are known today. The President has asserted, in the budget of the U.S. Government for fiscal year 1965, that "to protect the security of the United States and of the free world, the United States will continue responsibility for the administration of the Ryukyu Islands as long as conditions of threat and tension in the Far East require the maintenance of military bases in these islands." B. Governmental arrangements Under the provisions of Executive Order 10713, dated June 5, 1957, as amended by Executive Order 11010, dated March 19, 1962, the President delegated to the Secretary of Defense the responsibility of exercising the above-mentioned powers of administration, legislation, and jurisdiction over the Ryukyus, subject to the direction and control of the President. The basic order established a civil administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR), headed by a High Commissioner appointed from among the active-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces. The 1962 amendment to the basic order also provided for a civilian official, under the High Commissioner, called the civil administrator; his powers and duties are such as may be assigned to him by the High Commissioner. The basic order charged the Secretary of State with the responsibility for conducting Ryukyuan relations with foreign countries and international organizations. It also established the government of the Ryukyu Islands (GRI), which, under the High Commissioner, has extensive powers in the legislative, executive, and judicial fields. C. Nature of claims The presence of U.S. Armed Forces in the Ryukyu Islands constituted a military occupation from June 21, 1945, until April 28, 1952. Certain damages were caused during this period to residents of the Ryukyu Islands by various acts and omissions of the U.S. Armed Forces or of their members. These damages ranged from the uncompensated use of real and personal property, taken over for the legitimate requirements of the occupying forces, to tortious acts by members of the forces. It is a generally recognized principle of international law, particularly as reflected in the provisions of the Hague Convention No. IV of 1907 (which has been ratified by both the United States and Japan), that individuals whose personal or real property is used or taken by occupation forces are entitled to fair compensation for such use. In other occupations of enemy territory by U.S. Armed Forces during and after World War II, such compensation was normally provided, on behalf of the United States, by the existing local governments. This principle applied also to claims arising from death or personal injury suffered by residents of the occupied territory due to acts or omissions of the Armed Forces or of their members. However, the absence of any financially responsible local government in the Ryukyus in the immediate postwar years unfortunately resulted in the nonpayment of any compensation to individual Ryukyuans for the use of or damage to their property by the U.S. occupation forces during the pretreaty period (with one exception, as will be explained below), or for any pretreaty tort claims for death or personal injury caused by such forces or members thereof. In any event, U.S. liability for Ryukyuan claims arising during that period was formally extinguished by the Treaty of Peace with Japan, which entered into force on April 28, 1952. In article 19a of this treaty, Japan waived all its claims, and those of its nationals (including Ryukyuans), against the Allied Powers and their nationals, arising from the war and occupation of Japanese territory prior to the coming into force of the treaty. (Unlike other agreements with former enemy states, this treaty did not require Japan to settle and pay the claims of its nationals against the other contracting parties.) Accordingly, the United States, on the basis that it has thus been absolved from legal responsibility for payment of these claims, denies legal liability for such claims and therefore has not paid them-except for certain claims related to rental of land and damages thereto during the last 2 years of the occupation period, as will be explained herewith. Beginning with the effective date of July 1, 1950, the principle of uncompensated requisitioning of Ryukyuan private property was abandoned in favor of leasehold arrangements, with rentals paid by the U.S. Government; payments have also been made to cover the cost of restoring lands damaged during that period. These arrangements were undertaken on the basis of implied leases, executed by virtue of the retroactive provisions of civil administration proclamation No. 26, dated December 5, 1953. These particular pretreaty claims may thus be regarded as covered by article 19b of the treaty, which specifically exempts from the waiver provision of article 19a those claims which are "specifically recognized in the laws of any Allied Powers enacted since September 2, 1945." These already satisfied pretreaty claims, of course, are not included among the claims covered by the attached draft legislation. As a matter of related interest, the Government of Japan denies legal liability for pretreaty claims in the home islands of Japan, but has provided some compensation to such Japanese claimants. Although the Government of Japan similarly denies legal liability for pretreaty claims in the Ryukyu Islands, in 1957 it made solatia payments to Ryukyuan pretreaty claimants, in the amount of 1 billion yen (approximately $2.8 million). The amount of these solatia has been deducted from the amount of the claims covered by the proposed legislation, and a specific stipulation has been included therein, precluding disbursement of funds appropriated thereunder for claims already satisfied by the GOJ. Although the GOJ, when paying these solatia, stipulated that the amount thereof would be repaid to it, should the Ryukyuan claimants succeed in obtaining compensation from the U.S. Government for these claims, this stipulation was a unilateral action on the part of the GOJ, and has never been agreed to by the U.S. Government. D. U.S. policy regarding these claims The claims to be compensated by this bill have been presented by Ryukyuans to the High Commissioner and to his predecessors during the years since the treaty entered into effect. Numerous petitions in this matter have also been submitted to him and to other officials of the U.S. Government. Most recently, in 1960, the Ryukyuan members of the High Commissioner's Land Advisory Committee submitted to him a comprehensive petition, requesting compensation for these claims. Although recognizing that the United States had no legal liability for such claims, the High Commissioner forwarded this petition to the Department of the Army, recommending that the United States review this entire problem with a view toward modifying its past policy of relying solely on the legal merits of the case, and that it now give due emphasis to related considerations of equity and moral responsibility. The High Commissioner's recommendation for a review of this problem was favorably received by the Department of the Army, and, with the approval of the Department of Defense and the concurrence of both the Department of State and the Bureau of the Budget, the High Commissioner was directed to undertake a review of the entire subject of Ryukyuan pretreaty claims, to include discussions with the Ryukyuan claimants, their representatives, and the government of the Ryukyu Islands. An announcement to this effect was released by the High Commissioner on April 6, 1961. In his announcement, the High Commissioner noted that he thereby assumed no legal responsibility or commitment to settle these claims, and stated that they were being reviewed because of the concern of the United States, as the administering authority in the Ryukyus, for the well-being of the Ryukyuan people. Advance copies of this announcement had previously been distributed to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, the members of the concerned committees of both the Senate and House, and to selected Senators and Congressmen. The High Commissioner subsequently established a joint Ryukyuan-American group to conduct the review, the American members of which were appointed by himself and the Ryukyuan members by the chief executive of the government of the Ryukyu Islands. The Committee examined all of the evidence in this matter and reviewed it in accordance with equitable standards that had previously been developed, and applied with considerable success, in reviewing claims submitted to the U.S. Government by residents of other areas in the Far East. The Committee completed its study and submitted a unanimous report to the High Commissioner on March 23, 1962. After reviewing the Committee's report, the High Commissioner transmitted it to the Department of the Army on October 16, 1962. The High Commissioner supported the Committee's conclusions and recommended that appropriate action be taken to seek approval by the Congress for authorization of the proposed payments. This legislative proposal is a direct result of the Committee's study and of the High Commissioner's recommendation thereon. Bills seeking the same objective as this proposal were introduced in the 86th, 87th, and 88th Congresses, but were not enacted. The proposed payments are considered warranted because of the concern of the United States, as the administering authority in the Ryukyus, for the wellbeing of the Ryukyuan people. Payment of these claims will also provide effective redress for an acknowledged inequity, which has caused these claimants to throw themselves on the mercy of the U.S. Government, which has full jurisdiction over them. It would also promote the security interests of the United States, by fostering an atmosphere of respect on the part of the Ryukyuan people for the spirit of fairplay and equity evidenced by the U.S. Government, in keeping with the image and record of American practices throughout the world. While the legal position of the U.S. Government is quite clear, in view of the above-mentioned extinguishment of our liability for these claims by article 19 of the treaty, the fact that the individual claimants were, through no fault of their own, left uncompensated during the 7 years of the occupation, contrary to the practice followed in other occupied areas, does constitute a situation calling for equitable adjustment at this time. In referring this matter to the Congress, the executive branch believes that the problem should be regarded in this light. This question is basically keyed to the moral imperative of living up to the demands of equity, even where no legal liability exists. It is respectfully suggested that this be the framework for legislative consideration of the attached proposal. E. Cost and budget data The total of all claims which have been submitted in this matter was originally $43 million, as tabulated in the above-mentioned petition submitted by the claimants to the High Commissioner. However, in the course of the review conducted by the Joint Committee, as approved by the High Commissioner, the total of the meritorious claims has been reduced to approximately $22 million, broken down as follows: If this legislative proposal is enacted, it is estimated that the bulk of this sum would be expended within 1 year. This amount has not been included in any estimate of appropriations submitted through budget channels by either the Department of Defense or the Department of the Army. It is proposed that distribution of the requested payments would be made by the government of the Ryukyu Islands, under controls established by the High Commissioner, and would not require additional civilian employment or expenditures for personnel services. The anticipated negligible increase in general administrative expenses in the office of the High Commissioner will be absorbed within other appropriations for the Department of Defense. In connection with the operative clause of the attached joint resolution, it is proposed that a tabulation of the claims determined by the High Commissioner to be meritorious will be submitted to the respective committees of the Congress in the course of their consideration of this proposal. Sincerely, 52-378-65- -2 (Signed) STEPHEN AILES, Secretary of the Army. |