‘Japan massacred Koreans on Sakhalin’

A recently released Soviet Union report suggests that a large-scale massacre of Koreans by Japanese soldiers took place on Sakhalin, off Russia’s east coast.

It also sheds more light on the fate of victims of forcible conscription for wartime labor under Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945).

The National Archives of Korea (NAK) made public a handwritten document by a former Soviet Union official in Sakhalin in 1946, Tuesday, which noted that of the 10,229 Koreans originally living in Esutoru, located in the northwest of the island, before World War II, only 5,332 remained as of 1946.

Japan was defeated in World War II in 1945 leading to Korea’s independence.

A NAK official was quoted as saying: “It is hard to conclude that the decrease in Korean population there was completely due to killings by the Japanese military. However, in the report, the Soviet government clearly identifies killing by Japanese soldiers as one of the reasons the population declined.”

The soldiers allegedly killed the Koreans as the former shifted the blame for their defeat onto the latter, accusing them of being spies for the former Soviet Union.

During the 35-year colonial rule, Imperial Japan forcibly mobilized Korean workers at coal mines and lumber camps to support its war efforts.

Another report from the former Soviet Union’s Worker’s Party in 1946 obtained by NAK showed that the number of people Japan sent to to Sakhalin was 22,817.

The evidence of a possible large-scale massacre is expected to add fresh momentum to the ongoing compensation request against Japan’s colonial atrocities such as forced sexual enslavement.

Following the release of the controversial document, a Prime Minister’s Office committee, which helps victims receive compensation for their past sufferings under Japanese colonialism, announced it will further investigate the case for additional evidences in cooperation with NAK.

Observers expect the victims to be more active in pushing for compensation and unpaid wages from the Japanese government and companies as the report is likely to serve as hard evidence of conscription to Sakhalin.

Victims of forced labor have been pressing for compensation following the Korean Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on May 24 which held a Japanese firm financially responsible for forcing Koreans to work for it.

The Japanese government and former wartime companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel Corp. have been ignoring calls for individual compensation to Koreans as they adhere to a position that the issue was entirely resolved through the 1965 Korea-Japan Claims Settlement Agreement in which Seoul received $800 million from Tokyo in grants and soft loans. <The Korea Times/Chung Min-uck>

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