As circumstances suggest that the remains of some victims from the 1942 Josei Coal Mine flooding disaster—which claimed the lives of 136 Koreans and others—were buried around the mine, a Japanese civic group is pushing to conduct identity verification on the remains.

The Association to Engrave the Josei Coal Mine Flooding Disaster held a press conference at the House of Councillors Office Building in Japan on the 6th, raising the possibility that about 21 victims of the flooding disaster were buried in a waterside area near the mine.

The Josei Coal Mine was an undersea coal mine located in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where a flooding disaster occurred in 1942, killing 183 people, including 136 Koreans and 47 Japanese.

Following a bilateral summit in January, the South Korean and Japanese governments agreed to cooperate on identifying human remains excavated from coal mines and are currently conducting DNA testing.

According to documents such as the List of Koreans Crossing in Groups, which were materials from the operator of the Josei Coal Mine at the time, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (currently the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) notified the company in 1942 of its decision to pay burial fees for Park Sam-eul and 20 others.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare explained that burial fees are expenses paid for the burial of deceased persons.

The association pointed out, "Although records regarding the burials exist, according to the testimonies of bereaved families, the bodies were not handed over. Given the scale of the crematorium affiliated with the Josei Coal Mine at the time, it was impossible to cremate as many as 21 people, and there are no circumstances indicating that arbitrary cremation took place in the open air."

The association claimed that at least six people entered the shaft shortly after the mine flooding disaster for purposes such as rescuing survivors, raising the possibility that they suffered additional harm, and that the burial of the remains of at least 21 people, including them, may have been carried out secretly without the knowledge of the bereaved families and others.

The association stated that it plans to push forward with an onshore investigation of remains within this year, which was originally scheduled to be conducted following the underwater investigation of remains.

Underwater remains recovery operations have been virtually suspended since an accident in February in which a Taiwanese diver participating in the recovery of human remains died.

The association criticized that although the leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed to cooperate on DNA testing to identify remains excavated from coal mines, the Japanese government is dragging its feet while keeping silent about the testing process and results.

Inoue Yoko, the representative of the association, pointed out that private divers discovered bones and skulls presumed to be those of victims in the underwater shaft in August of last year, and additional remains were recovered in February of this year, yet it is taking an excessively long time for DNA testing results to come out.

Representative Inoue urged the prompt derivation of DNA testing results and the transfer of remains to the bereaved families, asking, "Is the bilateral consultation between South Korea and Japan regarding the identification of remains blocked somewhere?"

(Photo: Yonhap News)