Murder victims of March 1 movement identified by new documents

The identity of some Korean people who were killed by Japanese soldiers and police at the March 1, 1919 movement and Kanto earthquake was confirmed for the first time. The National Archives of Korea released Tuesday 67 books containing such data that were discovered in June this year. The data were found when the Korean embassy in Tokyo was being relocated.

The data included a book containing records of 630 murder victims of March 1 movement, a book containing records of 290 Kanto earthquake murder victims and 229,781 people forced for military service. The list was made by then home affairs ministry under order by then President Rhee Syng-man at the 109th cabinet meeting. The forced military service list is the oldest.

For the March 1 movement, Japanese data is known to show 7,509 deaths, 15,691 injured people and 46,948 detained people in three months. In Korea, 391 people are recognized as martyrs since government was established. The latest list records name, age, address and details of death according to villages, being a basis of selecting men of national merit.

The numbers of victims of Kanto earthquake is known to be 6,661 through survey by the then provisional government. Only the location of murder and numbers are recorded. However, the latest data contains the name, hometown, age and details of murder. Park Geol-soon, sociology professor at Chungbuk University, said, "The list of murder victims of March 1 movement and Kanto earthquake is the first unknown even to the academia," adding, "They have high historical value for academic research and evidence for past history."