Mitsubishi director says WWII apology may be given to British, Chinese, others forced to work

Yukio Okamoto, Outside Board Member of Mitsubishi Materials and former Special Advisor to Japan's Prime Minister, left, and Hikaru Kimura, Senior Executive Officer Mitsubishi Materials, offer an apology as they hold hands with 94-year-old U.S. prisoner of war, James Murphy, at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 19, 2015. Some 12,000 American prisoners were shipped to Japan and forced to work at more than 50 sites to support imperial Japan's war effort, and about 10 percent died, according to Kinue Tokudome, director of the U.S.-Japan Dialogue on POWs, who has spearheaded the lobbying effort for companies to apologize. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) (The Associated Press)

Yukio Okamoto, an outside director of Mitsubishi Materials, speaks to the foreign media in Tokyo Wednesday, July 22, 2015. Okamoto said that the company hopes to apologize to former British, Dutch and Australian World War II POWs, and also reach an amicable solution with Chinese forced laborers, following a landmark apology to American POWs earlier this week. (AP Photo/Ken Moritsugu) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this July 19, 2015 file photo, Yukio Okamoto, left, outside board member of Mitsubishi Materials and former special advisor to Japanese prime minister, and Hikaru Kimura, second from left, senior executive officer of Mitsubishi Materials, offer an apology as they hold hands with 94-year-old U.S. prisoner of war, James Murphy, at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Okamoto said Wednesday, July 22, 2015 in Tokyo that the company hopes to apologize to former British, Dutch and Australian World War II POWs, and also reach an amicable solution with Chinese forced laborers, following a landmark apology to American POWs earlier this week. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) (The Associated Press)