Background on Forced Labor
Header Picture Courtesy to Yonhap News
Japan turned towards its Asian neighbors as a source of labor to fulfill its ambitions of becoming self-sustaining during the war. The Japanese Ministry of Commerce and Industry discussed the possibility of forcibly taking Chinese and Korean workers to help with the labor shortage in Japan. [1] The plan was divided into two to three stages. The first stage would be experimental: Chinese and Koreans workers would be taken to Japan to solve the problem of labor shortage in the heavy industry section. The second part to the plan was to examine the results of the first stage and adjust the number of workers needed accordingly.
For example, the first stage in China went from April to November 1943, bringing 1,411 Chinese workers [2]. Due to the success of the first stage, the plan continued and from February 1944, the importation of Chinese laborers accelerated. By May 1944, 37,000 additional Chinese laborers were added to 135 worksites around Japan. |
As for Korea, the recruitment of Korean laborers was managed by the “Handling the Recruitment and Passage of Korean Laborers” program. [3] Since the first stage, Koreans were binded to a workplace and were not allowed to change their profession. Similarly to the Chinese, they were given only a small amount of money and most of it was used for food and lodging. The second stage began in 1942 to 1944. Japanese officials violently entered the homes of farming villages and forcibly recruited them into the labor force.[4] Initially, Korean workers ranged from age 20 to 35 but they expanded the range to age 13 to 50. There was a strong resistance from the Koreans as the third period “recruitment through conscription” began in 1944 to 1945. [5] There were so many Koreans that were recruited that each munitions plant in Japan got an additional 1000 workers.
|
In contrast with the labor conditions for the Japanese citizens, the treatment of Koreans and Chinese in the factories were brutal. Most of the Japanese workforce were women and students, which the majority are volunteers. Their tasks were not composed of harsh labor, but tasks such as crafting ammunitions and components on the assembly line.[6] On the other end of the spectrum, throughout Japan, the death rate of Chinese worker is one in six workers (17.5%). Death rates in some places exceeded 50%.[7] Koreans and Chinese mainly worked in mines, construction sites and dockyards as there was a lack of labor in those areas.[8] Each of these workplaces had common traits: 12 hours of work, lack of food, and abuse from its employers.[9] The harsh treatment motivated many laborers to escape the labor force. The second stage of the recruitment abducted great numbers of Koreans and Chinese as there was a steep rise in escaping labor force. The escape rate in Kyushu’s coal mines were around 80% to 90%.[10]
|
After the war ended, Korean and Chinese workers requested to return home. Laborers were herded into trains and sent to Yamaguchi. Despite being able to return home, the journey back was also dangerous. There was a typhoon that stopped the transportation between Yamaguchi and Fukuoka. Additionally, when the workers arrived at the harbor, they had to wait five nights before the boats took them back. The arrangement was done rather swiftly and carelessly.[11]
Even if they managed to survive long enough to board the boat, they were still unsafe. For example, Ukishima Maru, loaded with Korean workers, exploded and sank in Kyoto prefecture on August 24 1945. Japan reported that 524 people were killed, however, the real number was unclear.[12] Recently in 2001, Kyoto District Court answered the claims brought up by families of the Ukishima Maru victims and compensated 45 million yen. This compensation remained incomplete as they have not yet given an official apology regarding this issue. |
Sources
[1][2][9]Webster, Timothy. "Sisyphus in a Coal Mine: Responses to Slave Labor in Japan
and The United States." Cornell Law Review 91 (August 2010).
[3][4][5][6][8][10][11][12]Katroska, Paul H., ed. Asian Labor in the Wartime Japanese Empire: Unknown
Histories. New York, NY: Routledge, 2015. Digital file.
[7]Underwood, William. "Chinese Forced Labor, the Japanese Government and the Prospects for Redress." The Asia-Pacific Journal 3, no. 7 (July 2005).
and The United States." Cornell Law Review 91 (August 2010).
[3][4][5][6][8][10][11][12]Katroska, Paul H., ed. Asian Labor in the Wartime Japanese Empire: Unknown
Histories. New York, NY: Routledge, 2015. Digital file.
[7]Underwood, William. "Chinese Forced Labor, the Japanese Government and the Prospects for Redress." The Asia-Pacific Journal 3, no. 7 (July 2005).