Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
Authorities here have received a belated notice that the remains of Korean-born soldiers and civilian attachments returning home from one temple in Tokyo's Meguro District include those belonging to Japanese nationals.
The mix of these Japanese remains with those belonging to Korean victims of colonial atrocities, Seoul says, is an indication of Japan's negligence in adopting a proper identification process.
On Wednesday, Korean authorities confirmed that "the Japanese government identified ten Japanese remains among the two hundred and twenty remains expected to be returned to Korea at the 7th bilateral consultative meeting held last Friday."
This is attributed to the fact that the Japanese authorities had mistakenly classified some of their own people as Koreans based on their officially registered Korean addresses, according to officials.
Between January 2008 and July 2009, Korean remains held at the Tokyo Temple were returned to Korea on three occasions.
Earlier this year, the two governments were undergoing consultations to bring about 200 more remains back to Korea, which are presumed to be Korean and are not identified to have any surviving family.
The completion of their return is expected sometime in May, after the Japanese government establishes that they do not have any surviving family in Japan.
To prevent future mix-ups, the two governments have agreed on the need to ensure a more accurate identification process.
Since the end of WWII, Japan's Ministry of Welfare and Labor has maintained the remains of Korean-born military servicemen and civilian attachments. Then, in the 1970s, their maintenance was consigned to the Tokyo Temple.
The Japanese government has returned Korean remains through unofficial routes on ten separate occasions since 1971.
However, since the launch of a bilateral fact-finding commission for the victims of forced labor mobilized by Japanese colonial authorities, the return of Korean remains has been conducted officially.
Since 2008, 204 remains have been returned on three occasions.
According to the authorities, there are around 920 remains of Korean-born victims of forced conscription. Of them, 427 people resided in present-day North Korea, and 494 lived in present-day South Korea.