DPRK urges Japan to hand over remains of slave workers

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday urged Japan to hand over the remains of Korean slave workers born in DPRK and pay compensation to the victims' families.

The remarks were made in a statement issued by the Association of the Korean Victims of the Forcible Drafting and Their Bereaved Families, an official organization responsible for the slave workers issue.

DPRK accused Japan of serious human rights abuses and urged it to conduct investigations into the remains of the Korean slave workers, the official KCNA news agency quoted the statement as reporting.

The remarks came after Japan handed over the remains of more than 100 slave workers to South Korea.

The remains must have included those of people born in DPRK, said the statement.

"...(Japan) should make public their total number, excavate their remains with care, conduct a DNA test without condition, find out their bereaved families and make full apology and compensation," said the statement.

DPRK was also angered by Japan's rejection to allow the victims' families into Japan to hold a memorial ceremony.

Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910 to 1945, during which time about 8.4 million Koreans were forced into front-line labor or sexual slavery in military-run brothels.

Source: Xinhua