Japan's Mitsubishi apologises for using WWII POWs as forced labour

94-year-old James Murphy has accepted an apology from Mitsubishi for its treatment of US POWs during World War II.

Yukio Okamoto and Hikaru Kimura offer an apology as they hold hands with 94-year-old U.S. prisoner of war, James Murphy. Source: AP

Japanese corporate giant Mitsubishi has given an unprecedented apology for using American prisoners of war for forced labour during World War II.

At the solemn ceremony hosted by the Museum of Tolerance at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, 94-year-old US POW James Murphy accepted the apology from executives of Mitsubishi Materials.

Murphy, who was forced to work in Mitsubishi copper mines under harsh conditions, called the apology sincere and remorseful.

"This is a glorious day," Murphy said on Sunday. "For 70 years we wanted this."

Japan's government issued a formal apology to American POWs in 2009 and again in 2010.

But POWs used as slaves at mines and industrial plants have had little luck getting apologies from the corporations who used them, sometimes under brutal conditions.

Some 12,000 American prisoners were shipped to Japan and forced to work as part of the country's war effort, with an estimated 10 per cent of them dying.