Japan Should Acknowledge Mass Killing of Koreans

A spokesman for the Association of Korean Victims of Forcible Drafting and Their Bereaved Families made public a statement on August 24 on the lapse of 75 years since Ukishima-maru, a transport vessel of the Japanese imperialist aggressor army, was sunken by an explosion.

Thousands of Koreans, who boarded the ship bound for their homeland looking forward to the time when they would meet their beloved families with joy over Korea’s liberation, had to die a groundless death, the statement said, and went on:

Nevertheless, the Japanese authorities have so far resorted to sleight of hand in many ways to cover up the crime, shamelessly describing the incident as accidental.

We denounce the Japanese authorities and reactionaries in the name of the victims and their bereaved families for drowning thousands of people in return for their defeat, not content with abducting and drafting a large number of Koreans and driving them into hard labour at the point of the bayonet in the past, and now persistently dodging their responsibility for it.

The Japanese authorities' desperate efforts to deny a thrice-cursed mass killing of Koreans and cover up the truth behind them only bring to light their vileness and cause the Korean people to harden their will to surely exact Japan's atonement for the past crimes.

The Japanese authorities should clearly disclose the truth behind the case of Ukishima-maru and make due apology and reparation to the victims and their bereaved families, fully aware that Japan's blood-stained past can neither be justified nor be written off.

KCNA

2020-08-24