The Japanese government decided to reverse its policy of not paying the monthly allowance of 34,000 yen to A-bomb survivors who live abroad following a high court decision late last year ordering the state to pay the money to a Korean survivor living in South Korea.

The Nagasaki prefectural government, which is handling the bulk of the cases, has been negotiating with the Republic of Korea National Red Cross over ways to pay the money to the survivors, or "hibakusha."

But the payments, which were scheduled to start in March, have been delayed as talks to coordinate the transfer of funds have fallen behind schedule because of procedural differences between the two countries.

Another obstacle is the provision that those eligible to receive the allowance must make at least one trip to Japan ahead of time. This means that elderly hibakusha who cannot travel for health reasons will not be able to receive the money even if the procedural problems are resolved.

So far, only about 60 people have received allowances, after the Osaka prefectural government began to implement payments independently in April.

A Nagasaki official said the prefectural government is making arrangements with the relevant local bodies in South Korea so that it can send money as early as September and have it transferred into the bank accounts of the survivors.

However, it does not intend to change the provision that the hibakusha must come to Japan at least once.

Nobuto Hirano, a member of a nongovernmental group supporting hibakusha living abroad, said, "The Japanese government should deal with the matter responsibly and quickly so that people living anywhere in the world can equally receive (the allowance)."

In December 2002, the Osaka High Court ordered the central and Osaka prefectural governments to pay medical allowances to a Korean survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima who returned to South Korea a few months after obtaining his health card in 1998.

Following the ruling, the state accepted defeat for the first time in a lawsuit over claims to medical allowance by an atomic-bomb survivor living overseas when it decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court.