S. Korea OKs Aid to Victims of Japan

The bereaved families of forced draftees and laborers under Japanese colonial rule will receive 20 million won per person starting from the second half of next year.

Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook presided over a Cabinet meeting on September 12, in which the Cabinet voted for a “compensation bill for forced draftees and laborers during the Japanese colonial rule.”

The bill states that each family member of a soldier, a laborer, and a military serviceman who were mobilized abroad and then who either died or went missing during the 36 years of Japanese imperial rule will receive 20 million won.

Those who received 300,000 won in compensation from the government in 1975 will be entitled to 17.66 million won (300,000 won in 1975 is now worth 2.34 million won).

Injured persons and their families will be entitled to reparations of less than 20 million won per person, and those who were drafted but survived will be given up to 500,000 won for medical expenses annually till death. Family members refer to spouses, children, parents, and siblings.

The government will provide them with compensation from the second half of next year if the bill is passed in this regular session of the National Assembly.

Victims and their families have to apply for reparations to the “Committee for Forced Draftees and Laborers” within two years after the law goes into effect.

sys1201@donga.com