Published on August 7, 2019.
This is a republication of a chapter originally posted on July 2, 2019.
It introduces the remarks to be made by Lee Woo-yeon, a researcher at South Korea’s Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research, at a symposium held at the United Nations Office in Geneva, where he argues that claims of ethnic discrimination against wartime laborers from the Korean Peninsula are “complete lies.”
The article discusses wage ledgers from coal mines, the wage levels of Korean workers, a rebuttal to the image of “emaciated Korean laborers” spread by South Korean films and other media, and testimony videos produced by former residents of Hashima, also known as Gunkanjima, while criticizing researchers and journalists in South Korea and Japan who distort history.

August 7, 2019.
Regarding the ethnic discrimination pointed out in South Korea over the treatment of Japanese and Koreans in coal mines, he argues that it is “a complete lie,” and says, “Researchers and journalists in South Korea and Japan who distort history should stop their irresponsible words and actions.”
In response to the spread, through South Korean films and other means, of the image of “emaciated Korean laborers,” he counters, “If one looks at photographs from the time, they were healthy, robust, and dignified.”
This is a chapter that I posted on July 2, 2019, under that title.
Because monthly magazines and books that I had to read had piled up, I had recently not felt inclined to read newspapers.
But today’s Sankei Shimbun had many articles that should be read.
“Discrimination against wartime laborers is a lie.”
South Korean researcher to argue this at the United Nations.
The main content of remarks to be made by Lee Woo-yeon, a researcher at South Korea’s Naksungdae Institute of Economic Research, who studies the wage system of workers from the Korean Peninsula, including so-called wartime laborers during the war, at a symposium to be held on the 2nd at the United Nations Office in Geneva, became known on the 1st.
Regarding the ethnic discrimination pointed out in South Korea over the treatment of Japanese and Koreans in coal mines, he will argue that it is “a complete lie,” and appeal that “researchers and journalists in South Korea and Japan who distort history should stop their irresponsible words and actions.”
At the symposium, Mr. Lee will also report the results of his investigation into the actual wage gap between Koreans and Japanese, based on wage ledgers from coal mines at the time.
He says that there were also coal mines where the wages of Korean coal mine workers were 4.2 times those of teachers working on the Korean Peninsula.
Mr. Lee explains that coal mine workers were treated favorably in terms of wages, even compared with Japanese people in other occupations.
In response to the spread, through South Korean films and other means, of the image of “emaciated Korean laborers,” he counters, “If one looks at photographs from the time, they were healthy, robust, and dignified.”
The symposium will be held as a related event of the ongoing United Nations Human Rights Council.
A testimony video produced by the Association of Hashima Islanders for the Pursuit of True History, made up of former residents of Hashima in Nagasaki City, commonly known as Gunkanjima, will also be shown.