April 1, 2023

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kurabayashi Akiko at a House Labor and Welfare Committee meeting on March 30 demanded that negotiations to swiftly return to bereaved families the remains of Korean laborers aboard the　"Ukishima-maru" cargo ship which was sunk due to an underwater mine in the sea off Kyoto soon after the end of WWII.

Kurabayashi said that the remains of 9,259 Koreans who were taken to Japan to work during wartime were returned to South Korea by 2010, but the remains of 275 South Korean victims of the Ukishima-maru incident were never returned to their relatives and are still enshrined in Yutenji Temple in Tokyo.

She pointed out that Korean bereaved families and three organizations working to remember the Ukishima-maru martyrs are calling for the early return of the remains. Labor and Welfare Minister Kato Katsunobu said, "In coordination with the Foreign Ministry, the government will deal with that issue."

Kurabayashi also demanded that the remains of 425 North Koreans enshrined in Yutenji Temple be returned to North Korea as a humanitarian gesture.

Past related article:
> Memorial event held for Koreans killed in 1945 Ukishima-maru incident [August 25, 2022]