Mr. Nakayama To Build Memorial Tower For Koreans Who Were Forced To Join Japanese Army

``I stepped on Korean soil making apology for Korean victims who were sacrificed by Japan.``

Nakayama Toshiyo (58), civic activist and a director of the `Group of Bereaved Family in Kunma` arrived in Seoul Monday to search for the surviving families of the war victims.

While rejecting the `emperor system`, Mr. Nakayama has continuously brought up the issue of Japan`s war responsibility. Currently, he is promoting the construction of a memorial tower in Japan for Koreans who were killed during the Pacific War.

After realizing that there was a memorial tower for Chinese victims but not for Korean victims, Mr. Nakayama has been conducting a fund-raising drive since September 1998, and has gathered 5 million yen so far (1,000 yen per person). He plans to collect another 3 million yen before beginning construction work in Kunma next January.

Mr. Nakayama has been asserting that Japan has responsibility for the war in order not to make his father`s death vein. His father was also forced to join the Japanese army during the Pacific War. Mr. Nakayama said that he began to pay attention to Korean victims when the Korean Bereaved Family of Victims During the Pacific War filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government for compensation in Tokyo district court in 1991.

``I thought of myself as a victim of the Pacific War. After realizing that I am also an aggressor to Koreans, I could not face Koreans. I have realized that those Korean victims, who died in foreign land in their young age, are all my fathers,`` Nakayama said.

Mr. Nakayama said, ``Japan is degrading itself by distorting history textbooks, let alone not even making apology. I believed that constructing a memorial tower for Korean victims and making apology to the descendents of Korean victims were the proper thing to do as a Japanese.``

changkim@donga.com