An old document containing information on South Korean independence fighters put behind bars during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. (image: Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)
SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s government has confirmed the existence of 2,487 more independence fighters against Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule through an analysis of records scattered across the country, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said Thursday.
As part of a project to mark the centennial anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement, the ministry conducted an eight-month research program last year into lists of colonial-era prison inmates from 1,621 rural and other provincial offices.
It confirmed there were 5,323 South Koreans put behind bars for their participation in independence campaigns. Of them, 2,836 have already received state citations, while the government has yet to recognize the remainder.
“We plan to actively use the records to reward those who have yet to be recognized, as the ministry will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the March 1 movement this year,” the ministry said in a press release.
To collect the records, the ministry sent its staff to data storage facilities of regional community service offices. Staff also traveled to a district court in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul, to get inmate documents.
Calls had persisted for a nationwide study of the records of grassroots independence fighters, as they were not stored in the National Archives, which the ministry consults to manage lists of state-recognized patriots.
In response to the calls, the ministry designated the research project one of its 2018 policy tasks.
(Yonhap)
