Museum on Japanese colonization to open next year

By Kim Se-jeong

Korean and Japanese civic groups are seeking to buy a building to set up a museum showing the truth about Japan’s colonization of Korea (1910-1945).

The Center for Historical Truth and Justice, a civic group dedicated to revealing Korea’s modern history, said Sunday that it has launched a project to establish the museum with a scheduled opening in August next year.

The project is aimed at displaying various materials related to the colonial era, such as records of the Japanese invasion of Korea, exploitation and forced labor. About 30,000 items have been already donated, according to the center.

“It will also show Korean and Japanese civic groups roles regarding historical issues and promote exchanges in East Asia,” a member of the center said.

A coalition of some 30 civic groups in Japan will launch a project next month to collect materials to be donated to the museum and raise funds.

“Of many Korean museums dealing with specific themes or specific eras, none is dedicated to the period when Korea was under Japanese rule,” the member said. “We are aiming to make this venue a place where international collaboration will take place in revealing truth about colonization.”

He said the Japanese groups decided to participate in the project as part of their activities in historical truth finding.

Earlier in 2012 when the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan founded the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum in Seoul, dozens of Japanese civic groups collected about 770 million won and donated it to the council.

The center has promoted the colonization museum project since 2010, but made little progress due to a shortage of funding. The member said, the museum project will go smoothly if civic groups of the two countries make joint efforts again as they did for the War & Women’s Human Rights Museum.