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Braving bitter frost and a wind chill factor of 20 below, victims of colonial-era injustices turned out en masse on Tuesday. On its first day of operation, a government fact-finding committee on forced labor under Japanese occupation already received some 500 applications to investigate from all over the country. The committee and local governments around the country were inundated with enquiries.
One report said most of the passengers of four ships carrying Jeju Island residents who had been ordered off the mainland to avoid Allied air strikes during World War II were killed when Allied planes attacked the ships. Some 30 residents of a community in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province set up for returnees from Russia's Sakhalin Island reported losses from forced labor conscription and applied for an investigation.
Eligible to apply are those conscripted as soldiers, military civilians, laborers or "comfort women" between the Manchurian Incident of 1931 and the Pacific War. Applications will be accepted until late June.
Those wishing to apply can fill in online forms on the websites of the committee (www.gangje.go.kr, ¢Ï02-2100-8413~8) or the Ministry of Government and Home Affairs, by mail, or by directly visiting city or provincial administrative affairs offices or city, county or district civil affairs offices. Ethnic Koreans living abroad can apply at Korean legations.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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