Most Passengers Are Forced Labor Victims
The government received part of the victim list from the Japanese government for the Ukishima Maru (浮島丸·Ukishima) ship, which was torpedoed after victims who had been subjected to forced labor during the Japanese colonial period boarded it.
On the 5th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "We negotiated with the Japanese government to obtain the passenger list of the Ukishima Maru," and "We received part of the passenger list from the Japanese side."
The Japanese government provided 19 out of 75 secured documents to the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Japan as a priority. The documents are known to contain personal information of some passengers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "Other documents will be provided once internal investigations are completed."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to use the documents for victim relief and other purposes. In the past, families of the Ukishima Maru victims were denied government compensation applications due to the lack of documents.
The Ukishima Maru was a Japanese naval transport ship carrying Koreans residing in Japan returning home shortly after liberation in 1945, heading toward Busan. The ship departed from Ominato Port in Aomori Prefecture on August 22, 1945, and attempted to call at Maizuru Port on the 24th of the same month when an explosion occurred in the lower part of the hull. Japan stated that the Ukishima Maru was torpedoed after hitting an underwater mine.
Most of the victims were forced labor victims during the Japanese colonial period. The Japanese government announced that 524 out of approximately 3,700 passengers died, but the bereaved families claim that over 3,000 out of about 8,000 people died and that Japan deliberately sank the ship.
Japan did not salvage the hull or recover remains for several years after the accident and claimed that documents were lost as the ship sank.
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