Korean war slave's savings accounts uncovered in Japan

The Korean community in Japan is demanding that money in postal savings accounts held by slave labourers during the second world war be returned to them or their surviving relatives.

Tens of thousands of dormant accounts have been found at a branch of Japan Post Bank in Fukuoka City, southern Japan. Men and women brought to Japan during the years of Tokyo's colonial rule of the Korean peninsula were required to open the postal savings accounts, into which a part of their wages were automatically deposited.

The labourers - who worked in mines, shipyards, steel mills and the agricultural sector - did not receive their full pay as the Japanese authorities feared they might use it to help them escape.

In the chaos of the closing days of the war, the account books were never returned to their owners and they were never notified about their savings.

For nearly 70 years the account books have been gathering dust, including throughout the privatisation of the banking arm of the Japan Post Office in 2007.

"If the holder of the account is still alive, then the money should be returned," said Choi Bong-kyu, a spokesman for Mindan, which represents South Koreans living in Japan.

"In addition, if the holder of the title deed is dead or has disappeared, there is a responsibility to identify his or her relatives and return the money to them. The amounts should be converted to their modern-day value."