ID :
14219
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 12:24
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/14219
The shortlink copeid
.Problems of Sakhalin ethnic Koreans to be discussed at forum.
YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, July 29 (Itar-Tass) - An international forum on the problems of Sakhalin's ethnic Koreans opens here on Tuesday. Scientists and members of public organisations of Russia, the Republic of Korea, and Japan will discuss the past, the present and the future of the island's ethnic Koreans.
An official in the Sakhalin regional association of ethnic Koreans has told Itar-Tass that those present at the forum will seek to find solutions to perennial problems that have remained on the Korean Peninsula and in other countries following Japan's colonial domination in the period from 1905 to 1945.
At that time the southern half of Sakhalin was under theadministration of Japan, which brought tens of thousands of ethnic Koreans to the island but left them behind at the mercy of fate after the end of the Second World War.
About 1,500 Sakhalin's ethnic Koreans of the so-called firstgeneration, who were brought to the island prior to 1945, have been able to return to the homeland by now.
Another 4,500 ethnic Korean veterans, who currently reside on Sakhalin, also press for their repatriation. They also insist on getting compensation from Japan for their labour during WWII. The bulk of their wages were transferred at that time to accounts at Japanese banks. They have been unable to receive the money they earned while working at Japanese enterprises up to now.
Those present at the forum are also to raise matters concerning the rendering of material aid to the ethnic Korean veterans, the establishment of a system for the teaching of the Korean language on Sakhalin for young people, and the erection of monuments in those towns and settlements where Sakhalin's first-generation Koreans worked.
The forum will continue till August 4.
An official in the Sakhalin regional association of ethnic Koreans has told Itar-Tass that those present at the forum will seek to find solutions to perennial problems that have remained on the Korean Peninsula and in other countries following Japan's colonial domination in the period from 1905 to 1945.
At that time the southern half of Sakhalin was under theadministration of Japan, which brought tens of thousands of ethnic Koreans to the island but left them behind at the mercy of fate after the end of the Second World War.
About 1,500 Sakhalin's ethnic Koreans of the so-called firstgeneration, who were brought to the island prior to 1945, have been able to return to the homeland by now.
Another 4,500 ethnic Korean veterans, who currently reside on Sakhalin, also press for their repatriation. They also insist on getting compensation from Japan for their labour during WWII. The bulk of their wages were transferred at that time to accounts at Japanese banks. They have been unable to receive the money they earned while working at Japanese enterprises up to now.
Those present at the forum are also to raise matters concerning the rendering of material aid to the ethnic Korean veterans, the establishment of a system for the teaching of the Korean language on Sakhalin for young people, and the erection of monuments in those towns and settlements where Sakhalin's first-generation Koreans worked.
The forum will continue till August 4.
