40 victims of Kanto Earthquake identified by Korean government

40 victims of Kanto Earthquake identified by Korean government. December. 16, 2015 08:18. eulius@donga.com.

The Korean government has officially identified 40 Korean after verifying the list of Korean victims from the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, during which a massive genocide on the people of Joseon took place under the Japanese colonial rule in Korea. This will be the first data whose public confidence has been recognized by the government for the first time. It appears that the list of victims will serve as pivotal evidence in handling legal disputes with the Japanese government including requesting for fact finding reviews and filing lawsuits against Japan.

The verification on the list of the earthquake victims in Japan was conducted from March 2014 to December 2015 and revealed that 30 victims out of 286 were conclusively identified by the government as the victims killed during the Kanto earthquake, according to the announcement on Tuesday by the "Support Committee for Investigation of Damage from Compulsory Conscription and Victims Forcibly Mobilized Overseas during the Japanese Colonial Rule." In addition, on-the-ground investigations into the legal domiciles unearthed 10 more victims, identifying a total of 40 victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake.

The original list of earthquake victims in Japan was complied based on the reports of victims’ families in 1953 by the Rhee Syng-man administration. The document was found for the first time in June 2013 in the process of preparing for the relocation of the Korean embassy in Japan, along with the list of the forcibly conscripted and drafted people and the list of the victims killed during the March 1st Independence Movement. The committee investigated over 61 people registered with the list of the killed victims starting last year and concluded 30 people as killed victims, one as irrelevant, and 30 as target of further investigation. Most of the 40 victims came from Gyeongsang Provinces: 24 were from South Gyeongsang Province, 13 from North Gyeongsang Province, one from South Jeolla Province, one from Jeju Island, and one from South Chungcheong Province.