Former class-B/C war criminal Lee Hak-rae is seen here in Nishitokyo, a suburb of Tokyo. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO -- The bereaved family of and others tied to those from the Korean Peninsula who were forced, as residents of a Japanese colony, to serve in Southeast Asia for the Japanese Imperial Army as POW guards and in other posts, visited the Cabinet Office and submitted a letter to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida requesting that their family members be made eligible for proper compensation.

       Such people forced to serve for Japan as "Japanese citizens" were convicted as class-B or -C war criminals in a military tribunal by the Allied powers.

       A request has been filed with the prime minister since 1955, and Kishida is the 31st prime minister to which the request has been submitted.

       Korean former war criminal Lee Hak-rae, who lived in the Tokyo suburb of Nishitokyo, and was chairman of Doshinkai, a group comprising former class-B/C war criminals, died in March at the age of 96. It is believed that there are barely any Korean former class-B/C war criminals from the then Japan-occupied Korean Peninsula still alive. Lee worked as a guard watching over POWs working at the construction site of the Thai-Burma Railway, and following the end of World War II, was handed the death penalty. His sentence was reduced to 20 years in prison, and after he was transferred to Tokyo and released on parole in 1956, he continued to live in Japan.

       Lee and others from Japanese colonies lost their Japanese citizenship, and were made ineligible for the Japanese government's pension system. Lee and others argued that it was unjust that they were unable to receive pensions and other benefits even though they worked under the orders of the Japanese Imperial Army and became war criminals as a result, and sought a solution through the enactment of a law to redress people in situations like theirs to provide relief and restore their honor.

       On Nov. 12, when the letter was submitted to Prime Minister Kishida, Lee's 86-year-old widow, Kang Bok-soon, distributed letters seeking legislation to redress people from the Korean Peninsula to lawmakers in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors.

       Pak Rae-hong, 65, the current vice chairman of Doshinkai, and the son of the late Pak Chang-ho, who took part in activities seeking compensation for former class-B/C criminals from the Korean Peninsula with Lee, said, "I want to settle the score for my father and others who were left bitterly disappointed. We want the people of Japan to understand this issue, and for it to be resolved as soon as possible for the protection of people's dignity."

       Civic groups and others that support Doshinkai will hold a photo exhibition of the late Lee at Kudan Lifelong Learning Hall in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward Nov. 22-25. Around 60 photos and panels that trace Lee's life and Doshinkai's history are slated for display, including the request letter that was submitted to the late Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama.

       (Japanese original by Ken Aoshima, Tokyo City News Department)

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