A memorial service took place at the Yuten-ji temple in Tokyo on Wednesday for 44 Korean soldiers and military staff who were pressed into the Japanese Imperial Army during the colonial period and died in World War II, a day before their remains returned to Korea. The remains are among 945 bodies currently stored at Yuten-ji and identified by surviving family members.

After their return to Korea on Thursday, they will be enshrined in the national vault in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. In January 2008, 101 bodies were returned, and in October 59.

Kim Yong-bong, who heads the Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under the Japanese Imperialism, said these bodies were been identified by family members, but there are still many bodies of victims of forced labor that remain to be identified. "We should expand efforts at the national level to have all the remains returned to Korea," he added.