The pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan said it has obtained a 1946 Japanese government record listing 406 firms that used 66,000 Koreans as forced laborers.

Among the companies that forced Koreans to work were Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsui Mining Co., as well as construction giants Hazama Corp. and Nishimatsu Construction Co., said the group's spokesman Hong Sang Jin.

Hong said Japanese businesses have done virtually nothing to benefit the laborers they used.

"The companies should face their past and follow the example of German companies which shared reparation payments with their government," Hong said. "That would improve their corporate image far better than commercials."

Japan has refused to pay damages to individuals despite accusations at home and from overseas that it has not done enough to atone for its wartime brutality. Officials say the issue was settled in postwar treaties.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 21, 2005
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