S. Korea seeks to return remains of N. Koreans killed in World War II

SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has held discussions with North Korea since
2008 on the return of remains of North Koreans forced to work for the Japanese
military during World War II, a government panel said Saturday.

Japan returned 1,100 sets of remains of Koreans killed while forcibly serving in
the Japanese military during the war to South Korea on two occasions in 1971 and
1974. Most of the remains, formerly kept at Yutenji Temple in Tokyo, were
delivered to the victims' bereaved families in South Korea.
But remains of those from North Korea were buried at a state-run cemetery in
Cheonan, about 92 kilometers from Seoul, last November, having been kept for 35
years at a charnel house in Busan.
The Korean Peninsula was divided into capitalist South and communist North Korea
after liberation from the Japanese colonial rule in 1945. Koreas remain
technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
"We have contacted North Korea several times since 2008 to send 19 sets of
remains that belong to the country," said an official at the panel overseeing the
government's efforts to find facts with the forced labor and sex enslavement by
the Japanese colonizers.
"The government proposed returning the remains to the North and holding a joint
memorial service for the victims, but the North responded that it's best to wait
and see until inter-Korean relations get better," the official said on condition
of anonymity.
Relations turned rapidly chilled after South Korea's conservative President Lee
Myung-bak took office in 2008 and became further strained after the North's
nuclear test in May of last year.
The mood, however, shifted to a more conciliatory stance some months later when
North Korea reached out to Seoul and Washington for dialogue.
"We see it necessary to treat and bury the remains with honor on humanitarian
grounds whenever the North changes its position," the official said. The
government will continue to try to find ways to return remains of victims
confirmed to be from North Korea and have no relatives in South Korea, he added.
A number of Korean men were forced to serve in the Japanese military and Korean
women were forced to work at military brothels. An estimated 22,000 Korean
soldiers died fighting for Japan during World War II.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)

Delet