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Murayama's apology gets

mixed reaction in UK

LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuter) - British war veterans gave a qualified welcome on Saturday to Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama's expression of profound remorse to Britain over Japan's treatment of prisoners during World War Two.

But many veterans said it did not go far enough because it appeared to be a personal apology rather than one from Japan as a whole. They also noted it did not make any mention about compensation.

"It seems to be a personal apology, which is just a way of getting round the problem. It is an apology from Japan the country that we are interested in," Harold Payne, president of the National Federation of Far East Prisoners of War, told reporters.

A British government spokeswoman said on Friday that Murayama had sent a letter to Prime Minister John Major expressing "profound remorse for Japan's actions in a certain period of the past which caused such unbearable suffering and sorrow for so many people".

However, the Japanese Embassy in London said the letter had merely confirmed statements made to Major during a visit to Tokyo two years ago.

Murayama's apology made the front pages of many British newspapers on Saturday.

British and other Allied former prisoners of war have been calling for an apology from Tokyo for their treatment to coincide with the 50th anniversary on August 15 of the ending of the war in Asia.-Reuter