Present there were Ha Su Gwang, general secretary of the Fact-Finding Group for the Probe into the Truth about the Forcible Drafting of Koreans, Ri Tong Je, chairman of the Association of Koreans in Japan for Peaceful Reunification, Ko Tok U, chairman of the Nishi Tokyo headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), Koreans and Japanese figures.

With the help of the Fact-Finding Group for the Probe into the Truth about the Forcible Drafting of Koreans and other organizations of Chongryon and conscience-minded Japanese, remains of many Koreans who met merciless deaths while being forced into murderous labor at munitions factories, military bases, railway construction sites and coal mines after having been taken to Japan before the liberation of Korea have been unearthed.

But their wish to get buried in their native places has not yet been realized due to the national division imposed by outsiders and to the Japanese government's wrongful attitude of categorically denying the abolition of the past crimes.

Recent efforts made by several organizations resulted in making the remains of more than 30 victims get buried in their native places out of those which have been enshrined in a temple in Tokyo.

Speakers at the meeting said more than 70 years have passed since the August 15 liberation of Korea, but the departed souls of the victims are still left deserted in Japan, stressing that their lifetime wishes can come true only when the reunification unanimously desired by the fellow countrymen is achieved.

The participants in the meeting observed a moment's silence for the victims.