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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Japan must accept responsibility for Korean forced labor
Akahata editorial

Sixty-one years after the end of World War II, Japan is still very slow in investigating the remains of deceased Korean civilians who were taken to Japan for forced labor during the war.

The South Korean government has decided to grant compensation for the forced labor. In examining 200,000 applications for compensation, it is requesting Japan to provide South Korea with information about the remains.

At last on August 7, Japanese and South Korean authorities carried out their first joint investigation at a charnel house in Tagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture, with the aim of returning identified bones to their bereaved families. Four people's bones were identified.

It is good that a first step forward has been taken, but we must not forget that Japan is responsible for bringing these Koreans to Japan for forced labor against their will.

Lax investigation by Japanese government

The Japanese government in September 2005 requested 125 companies, religious entities, and local governments for information concerning where and how the bones are kept. It has received information concerning 786 bodies from local governments and 15 bodies from religious organizations, and passed the information concerning the 801 bodies to the South Korean government. But the total number of identified bodies is only 1,669, which is too small a number in the light of the fact that more than 200,000 requests have been made from South Korea.

The number of Koreans brought to Japan forcibly is estimated at 1,510,000 according to figures published by the office of the then Governor-General, the authority for colonial rule in Korea. The Japanese Public Security Investigation Agency's data are also available (list of Korean workers traveling to Japan, 1953). But without even examining the official data, the government in 1991 submitted the names of 90,804 Koreans who were brought to Japan for forced labor. It has rejected South Korea's demand for more investigation on the grounds that it has "no further data available" (March 1 at a House of Representatives Budget Committee panel).

It is said that more than one million Koreans were forced to come to Japan for forced labor. If the government does not even try to unravel the truth about them, its apology for its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula will be no more than paying lip service.

The government probe is particularly lax regarding companies that used forced labor.

The government has requested only 125 companies to cooperate in the investigation of bones of Koreans who died while in Japan as forced laborers. The reason the government gave for the small number was that of more than 600 companies, these were the only ones still in existence at the time of its 1991 investigation. This explanation convinces no one. To begin with, the number "more than 600" was given by the government when it carried out investigations in 1946 in 16 prefectures. This does not include Hokkaido where the number of Koreans on forced labor was the highest. In fact, several thousand companies are said to have used forced labor. It is natural that a larger number of companies should be asked to cooperate in the investigations. If the government tries to close its investigation without extending the probe beyond the 16 prefectures, it will face severe criticism for ignoring the crime of the use of forced labor.

Aso Mining in Fukuoka Prefecture, which used Korean forced labor at seven coal mines, is the predecessor firm of Aso Cement, a company which was once headed by Foreign Minister Aso Taro. In the Diet on February 6, 2005, Aso only said, "I do not know how to answer the question" when the government was asked to carry out further investigations.

Clearly, no one can expect that Japan-South Korean relations will be improved under the Koizumi government, which does not feel any sense of guilt regarding the untold suffering the Japanese government imposed on Koreans.

Root cause

Why is the Japanese government unwilling to unravel the whole picture of the forced labor issue? The biggest reason is that it still justifies the 1910 treaty of annexation of Korea by Japan. As long as it continues to justify Japan's colonial rule of Korea, it cannot settle the humanitarian issue of returning the bones of deceased Koreans to South Korea.

We demand that the government's apology must not be expressed just by word but by deed as well. -Akahata, August 9, 2006