September 5, 2025

Japanese Communist Party Secretariate Head Koike Akira on September 4 demanded that the prime minister and the health, labor and welfare minister visit the site of the 1942 undersea coal mine disaster, and that the government participate in efforts to recover the victims’ remains.

This demand followed the discovery of human remains last month which are believed to be the remains of victims of the Chosei Coal Mine (Ube City, Yamaguchi Pref.) flooding accident of 1942. The disaster claimed the lives of 183 workers with 136 of them being Korean forced laborers.

JCP Koike, along with a group of Dietmembers from opposition parties which included Social Democratic Party leader Fukushima Mizuho and SDP member of the House of Councillors LaSalle Ishii, made the demand to PM Ishiba Shigeru and MHLW Minister Fukuoka Takamaro in the Diet building.

However, a MHLW official responded, “Government participation will be difficult under conditions where undersea safety cannot be ensured.”

Koike and other opposition lawmakers argued that “allocating a government budget for diving investigations would enhance safety,” and again demanded government cooperation in the recovery of the remains. The MHLW, however, did not provide a concrete response.

They also demanded that the government establish an investigative committee involving underwater explorers responsible for diving surveys inside the mine utilizing divers from both Japan and South Korea. The MHLW responded that it would “establish” such a committee.

Past related article:
> Koike: Gov’t should begin full-scale exhumation of remains of 1942 underwater coal mine disaster victims [August 26, 2025]