Most Korean victims of Japanese forced mobilization said to be from South Jeolla
Published: 13 Jun. 2025, 18:41
![Kim Han-soo, center, a Korean victim of Japan's wartime forced labor, speaks during a press conference in southern Seoul, in this file photo taken April 4, 2018, over damages suits seeking compensation from Japanese companies. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/13/4d3a21fe-0581-44ca-bda5-20c375e90153.jpg)
Kim Han-soo, center, a Korean victim of Japan's wartime forced labor, speaks during a press conference in southern Seoul, in this file photo taken April 4, 2018, over damages suits seeking compensation from Japanese companies. [YONHAP]
Most of the Koreans who were forcibly mobilized by Japan to build military facilities on the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific during the 1910-45 colonial era were drafted from the southwestern province of South Jeolla, a civic group said Friday.
The group supporting the victims of forced mobilization by Imperial Japan made the revelation during a news conference in Gwangju, about 270 kilometers south of Seoul, disclosing the list of 640 Korean victims of forced mobilization.
A Japanese expert on the issue, named Yasuto Takeuchi, said at the conference that his analysis of various Japanese government records showed 635 of the 640 victims were from South Jeolla. They included South Jeolla residents who were forcibly taken to Mili Atoll of the Marshall Islands to build an airstrip and other military facilities for Japanese troops.
![The Sado Mine complex in Nigata Prefecture, Japan, on Nov. 24, 2024 [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/13/0efbd9a0-9ec9-4b3e-a99a-1ebe135ef126.jpg)
The Sado Mine complex in Nigata Prefecture, Japan, on Nov. 24, 2024 [NEWS1]
Mili Atoll is where the Japanese military forcibly mobilized 800 Koreans as military personnel in 1942 to build military bases, including an airfield. Takeuchi said last year that 213 of 218 Koreans who died in Mili Atoll at that time were residents of South Jeolla.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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