Japan Press Weekly

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2024 August 21 - 27 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP Dietmembers attend memorial event for Koreans killed in 1945 Ukishima-maru incident

In memory of the Koreans who were killed in what is known as the Ukishima-maru incident, the tragic sinking of a Japanese Navy cargo ship just after the end of WWII, a rally took place on August 24 in front of the cenotaph for the Korean victims in a park in Kyoto’s Maizuru City, with 250 people participating.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kurabayashi Akiko and JCP member of the House of Representatives Kokuta Keiji attended the rally.

Along with the rally organizer, representatives of local organizations of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chosen Soren) and the Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan) delivered eulogies.

The rally organizer introduced the fact that the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare at Kurabayashi’s request sent a message to the rally and that Kokuta at the May 31 Diet meeting urged the minister to publish the lists of people on board the Ukishima-maru when it was sunk.

In response to Kokuta’s demand, a list of 75 books designated as “registers” regarding to the 1945 Ukishima-maru incident was discovered. It is assumed that the 75 books will become public in stages.

On August 24, 1945, the Ukishima-maru cargo ship carrying 3,735 Koreans including those who were taken to Japan as forced laborers was sunk off the coast of Maizuru on its way to Busan, the nearest major port to Japan on the Korean Peninsula. In this tragedy, 549 Korean laborers and their family members were killed.

Past related article:
> JCP Kokuta obtains list of people on board Ukishima-maru [August 8, 2024]