Independence Activists

[Anchor Lead]

The Korean government has checked the lists of Koreans who were imprisoned during the Japanese colonial rule, and uncovered the names of some five thousand independence activists who were punished by the Japanese colonists. About half of them were never rewarded for their contributions. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has vowed to compensate them within this year.

[Pkg]

This is a list of prisoners who were incarcerated in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do Province, during the Japanese colonial rule. The document says that a prisoner surnamed Oh was flagellated with 60 lashes for violating the National Security Law in 1919, when the March 1st Independence Movement took place. At the time, nearly 200 residents of this village alone were punished by the Japanese colonists for participating in the independence movement. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has reviewed the lists of colonial-period prisoners in some 1,600 local administrative offices ahead of the centennial anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement and the establishment of the Korean provisional government. The ministry has uncovered the names of 5,323 independence activists. The documents also contain records of punishment that Korean freedom fighters received, from flagellation to life imprisonment and even death sentences. About half of them, or 2,487 activists, were never rewarded for their contributions.

[Soundbite] Choi Jung-shik(Min. of Patriots & Veterans Affairs) : "We will use these materials to verify independence activists who were never compensated in order to reward them this year in time for the centennial anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement."

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has also confirmed the records of 396 people who were punished for participating in the independence movement by checking the registers of 11 schools that were part of the anti-Japanese student movement.