Thousands of Koreans who boarded the ship to return to their homeland looking forward to the time when they would meet their beloved families after liberation of Korea were forced to death for no reason, the statement said, and went on:

Nevertheless, the Japanese authorities have so far resorted to all sorts of sleight of hand to cover up the crime, shamelessly describing the incident as an accident.

We denounce the Japanese authorities and reactionaries in the name of the victims and their bereaved families for drowning thousands of people in revenge for their defeat not content with abducting and drafting lots of Koreans and driving them into hard labor wielding the bayonet in the past and now persistently dodging their responsibility for it.

The Japanese authorities' desperate efforts to deny the trice-cursed mass killings of Koreans and cover up the truth behind them only bring to light their vileness and harden the will of the Korean people to surely exact Japan's atonement for the past crimes.

The Japanese authorities should clarify the truth behind the case of Ukishima-maru and make due apology and reparation to the victims and their bereaved families, aware that Japan's blood-stained past can neither be justified nor be written off.