Families 捜し出す 終結 for 戦時 地雷 災害 as Japan-Korea relations 雪解け
By Ju-min Park and Sakura Murakami
UBE, Japan, Feb 13 (Reuters) - On a crisp February morning, four 年輩の Korean men 屈服するd their 長，率いるs に向かって Japan's Seto Inland Sea as the surf lapped 近づく their shoes.
They were 支払う／賃金ing 尊敬（する）・点s to 親族s entombed in a coal 地雷 深い beneath their feet 80 years ago - の中で thousands of Korean 団体／死体s scattered across Japan in an 耐えるing symbol of a 植民地の past that has long blighted 関係 between the 隣人s.
But with 新たにするd 外交の 成果／努力s to 改善する relations, families of the men 草案d to support Japan's war 成果／努力 in what is known as the Chosei 地雷 during its 1910-45 占領／職業 of the Korean 半島, see a last chance for 終結.
"It is now or never," said 75-year-old Yang Hyeon, whose uncle was の中で 136 Koreans and 47 Japanese killed when the leaky 地雷 beneath the 海底 on southern Japan's coast 崩壊（する）d and flooded in 1942.
"Now that things are 明らかに getting better with Japan, I'm asking the two 政府s to think about us."
Yang, who …に出席するd the low-重要な 儀式 in the town of Ube on Feb. 4, is part of a group of family members and 居住（者）s 勧めるing the two 政府s to dig up the 団体／死体s and send them home.
The remains of as many as 10,000 Koreans who died in 軍隊d 労働, digging 地雷s or building dams, are still in Japan, によれば South Korean 政府 見積（る）s. Japan says it has identified 2,799 remains of Korean 戦時 labourers.
成果／努力s to 本国に送還する them have gone nowhere for more than a １０年間 but since taking office last year, South Korean 大統領 Yoon Suk-yeol has sought to settle historic 問題／発行するs with Japan and 焦点（を合わせる） on 株d, 現在の-day 脅しs such as 核の-武装した North Korea and 中国.
Those 予備交渉s, which resulted in the first 会談 between the country's leaders in years in September, have given hope to the 年輩の 親族s of the Chosei 鉱夫s that they may still live to see their loved ones' remains returned home.
"We're running out of time," said Son Bong-soo, a grandson of one of the 犠牲者s, who at 65 is the youngest family member in the group. "Once we die, no one will care."
In 2005, Japan 発表するd a 押し進める to return the remains of Korean 戦時 labourers, but the 率先 made little 進歩 and petered out several years later まっただ中に souring relations.
"We 推定する／予想する to have a 肯定的な conversation with Japan over 本国送還 of the remains as now South Korea and Japan both have a strong will to 解決する the 軍隊d 労働 問題／発行するs," South Korea's 内部の 省, which 扱うs 植民地の-時代 軍隊d 労働 論争s, said in a 声明.
The 省 said it had not discussed 明確な／細部 事例／患者s such as the Chosei 鉱夫s.
Japan's foreign 省 said it had been in communication with South Korea about 戦時 労働 問題／発行するs but could not 公表する／暴露する 詳細（に述べる）s.
GRIM CONDITIONS
One of the challenges at Chosei is the expense and 兵たん業務 of excavating 団体／死体s from a 潜水するd 地雷 that 延長するs at least 1 km out to sea and nearly 40 metres 地下組織の.
Japan's 労働 省, which said it had 以前 行為／行うd a 熟考する／考慮する of the 出来事/事件, told Reuters the cost of an 穴掘り would likely run into millions of U.S. dollars.
But 選挙運動者s argue that is a price 価値（がある） 支払う／賃金ing to recognise the hardship and 不正 that the families 耐えるd.
によれば a 2007 報告（する）／憶測 on the Chosei 地雷 （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限d by South Korea, wor kers おもに 草案d from poor farming towns in Korea lived in packed 寄宿舎s surrounded by high 盗品故買者ing and were 定期的に beaten by Japanese 監督者s.
Living 条件s were so desperate that in 1939, more than 200 労働者s 行う／開催する／段階d a 抗議する, breaking windows and a telephone inside the 地雷's 管理／経営 office, the 報告（する）／憶測 said referring to a Japanese 政府 声明 at the time.
In the months before the 地雷 崩壊（する）d, there were constant 漏れるs and pumps were 任命する／導入するd to draw water out of the 軸 to keep it 操作の, によれば 証言s of 生き残るing 鉱夫s 特記する／引用するd in the 報告（する）／憶測.
'NEW PATH'
Now 89 and using a 審理，公聴会 援助（する） and walking stick, Jeon Seok-売春婦 vividly remembers the morning his father died in the 地雷 when he was eight years old.
His teacher told him that there had been an 事故 and to go straight home. As he 急ぐd 支援する along the shore, he spotted columns of water spouting from the sea above the 地雷. Then he heard the wail of the 村人s as they watched the waters rise up to the 地雷 入り口, he 解任するd.
"It ended just like that. I lost my dad," Jeon said.
After the war, Jeon returned to Korea but his family struggled to live off the meagre income his mother made selling rice cakes and what he could 召集（する） 運動ing cattle for 農業者s.
Growing up, he said he often thought of his father, 罠にかける in the water so far away, but as the years pass he is losing hope of ever bringing him home.
"The 政府s are 支払う／賃金ing lip service to us but 現実に have done nothing," he said as he watched a ビデオ of the 最近の 儀式 on YouTube at his home in Daegu, South Korea.
His mood 解除するd when Yoko Inoue, the 72-year-old Japanese 長，率いる of the （選挙などの）運動をする group p ressing to retrieve the remains, appeared on 審査する.
"Inoue-san, hang in there!" Jeon shouted, breaking into Japanese.
支援する in Ube, Inoue told Reuters that if left untouched, the 団体／死体s at Chosei would forever be a symbol of the two countries' bitter past. But if 回復するd, they would serve as a show of まとまり.
"We have a 広大な／多数の／重要な 適切な時期," she said. "There's 勢い now, and the Japanese and Korean 政府s are trying to reconcile their differences."
"That also means 明らかにするing historical problems. But given that there are both Japanese and Korean people there, this could (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進む a new path if both 政府s could work together." (報告（する）／憶測ing by Sakura Murakami in Ube, Japan and Ju-min Park in Daegu, South Korea; 令状ing by John Geddie; Editing by Robert Birsel)
