It has been found that some 215 million yen, now worth 200 billion yen, in unpaid wages and compensation for foreign victims, including Koreans who were forced to join World War II, had been deposited in a Japanese bank.

A committee that has been formed to fight for proper compensation for Korean victims of the war, said yesterday it had been informed by a Japanese civic group that the unpaid wages and compensation, including both 168 million yen in cash and 47 million yen in securities (2,000 billion won in total) had been deposited in a bank in Japan since 1950.

The committee said the fact was revealed in a written reply from the Japanese Ministry of Finance to a Japanese lawmaker of a reform-minded political party on Oct. 15.

The money was prepared to compensate foreigners including Koreans who were forced to fight during the Second World War at the request of the U.S. military, which was then dominating the country, in 1950.

However, due to the agreement between the South Korean government and Japan, the victims are not likely to be allowed to seek compensation from the Japanese government individually.

``We will try to find out whether the government was aware of the money in the past,’’ a committee member said. ``We will also study whether the Korean victims are entitled to receive proper compensation from the deposit.’’