Japan should seriously address issues of forced labor during its war of aggression, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday after a Chinese court accepted a lawsuit by forced laborers.

"China has always demanded that Japan take a responsible attitude and seriously treat and properly handle the issues left over from history," spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing.

Hong's comments came a day after the First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing on Tuesday accepted a collective lawsuit by Chinese World War II laborers against Japanese companies. The group is seeking compensation and apologies from Japan.

Hong said recruiting labor by force was a severe crime committed by the Japanese military during World War II and deeply undermined Chinese victims' dignity and legitimate rights.

Two survivors and 35 people whose relatives were forced laborers filed the suit in late February against Japan's Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and Nippon Coke & Engineering Company, formerly known as Mitsui Mining.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Japan's top government spokesman, on Wednesday expressed remorse for forced labor, but maintained that a 1972 joint communique nullified Chinese citizens' rights to demand war-related compensation.

"Regarding the forced recruitment and labor of Chinese people, the government cannot deny that many people fell into unfortunate situations in those days," Suga told reporters.

But he said the court case raised troubling questions.

"We cannot help worrying seriously about the possible impact on the war settlement between Japan and China and bilateral economic relations as it could trigger similar cases in China," Suga said.

Xinhua - AFP