Number of Surviving Victims of Forced Labor in Japan Rapidly Decreasing... Only 640 Remain This Year

The Number Drops by 500 to 1,000 Each Year
172 Victims Are Over 100 Years Old

On the afternoon of August 28 last year, bereaved families and related parties of forced labor victims during the Japanese colonial period held a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu. Photo by Yonhap News

The number of surviving victims who were forcibly mobilized during the Japanese colonial period is rapidly decreasing every year. Although the victims have reached advanced age, there are criticisms that government support remains insufficient.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 27th, as of January 1 this year, there were 640 surviving victims (574 men and 66 women) of forced mobilization receiving medical support funds from the government. Since 2008, the ministry has been providing an annual medical support fund of 800,000 won to survivors under the "Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on Investigation of Forced Mobilization Victims during the Japanese Occupation and Support for Overseas Forced Mobilization Victims," commonly referred to as the Forced Mobilization Investigation Act. The number of recipients of this support fund is used to estimate the number of surviving victims.

The number of surviving victims of forced mobilization is decreasing rapidly. The number of recipients, which was 9,938 in 2015, dropped to 1,264 in 2023, and has fallen to 640 this year. The numbers were 3,140 in 2020, 2,400 in 2021, and 1,815 in 2022, showing a yearly decrease of 500 to 1,000 people. Among the current recipients, the youngest is 86 years old and the oldest is 109, with 172 people aged 100 or older.

By region, there are 119 in Gyeonggi, 70 each in Seoul and Jeonbuk, 59 in Chungnam, 56 in Gyeongnam, 55 in Jeonnam, 48 in Gyeongbuk, 30 in Busan, 25 in Incheon, 23 in Chungbuk, 22 in Gwangju, 21 in Gangwon, 20 in Daegu, 14 in Daejeon, 3 each in Sejong and Ulsan, and 2 in Jeju.

Lee Guk-eon, director of the civic group Citizens’ Association for Forced Mobilization under Japanese Occupation, an organization supporting victims of conscription, said, "An annual medical support fund of 800,000 won is far too little compared to the extent of past suffering," adding, "Both the Japanese government, which still has not apologized, and the Korean government, which has neglected this issue even in the 80th year since liberation, are responsible."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.