Coming Home after 70 Years: Repatriation of Korean Forced Laborers from Japan and Reconciliation in East Asia

Abstract

Thousands of young Korean men were taken to Japan during the Asia-Pacific War, only to die there while doing forced labor. Thousands are there still, in unmarked graves or in funeral urns. The Japanese public has almost forgotten them. For decades the Japanese and Korean governments alike have denied being responsible for their repatriation, and often address it with rancor. For 20 years multinational teams of volunteers have been retrieving remains from Hokkaido. And last September on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war they carried 115 souls from Hokkaido down across the archipelago and over for reburial in the Seoul Municipal Cemetery. Volunteers join workshops where they excavate remains but also hold discussions about recognizing what went wrong in the past, not to dwell on it but in order to build a peaceful future. Out of this has come a new movement dedicated to installing “steppingstones for peace” in East Asian countries.