By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
The Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization Under the Japanese Imperialism announced the publication of the first volume of its series, "Bibliographical Notes on Forced Mobilization," Sunday.
The first volume contains information on forced laborers during Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. It contains their names, addresses and occupations.
The commission has been striving to compile the directory to reflect the 226,000 damage claims filed with the commission regarding forced mobilization.
The documents included in this book are taken from original copies that belonged to the victims.
For instance, it contains a list of laborers who worked in a mine in the northern island Hokkaido, who returned to Korea after liberation in 1945; and a collection of letters written by Park No-hak, which attests to his compulsory mobilization to Sakhalin, Russia.
The commission will publish a related series of documents, including essays and photograph collections, by next year.
Established in 2004, the agency has since been researching compulsory mobilization under the Japanese occupation.
meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr
