SEIZURE OF LAND OWNED BY DESCENDANTS OF PRO-JAPANESE

[Anchor Lead]

The government is moving to seize newly discovered lands owned by descendants of people who collaborated with Japan during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea. The lands were found by an organization of descendants of independence fighters. Here's more on how they were discovered.

[Pkg]

Near a highway in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do Province, this land, measuring 20,000 square meters, is as large as two and a half football fields. It is owned by the great grandson of pro-Japanese collaborator Lee Hae-seung who was given the title of marquis by Japan. The land owner, surnamed Lee, is a Korean-American and the president of a hotel in Seoul. The land was not discovered in a special state commission probe on pro-Japanese collaborators' properties, conducted a decade ago.

[Soundbite] (INVESTIGATIVE PANEL MEMBER, HERITAGE OF KOREAN INDEPENDENCE) : "They handed over the properties to their descendants under multiple foreign names. We made the discoveries by combing through the entire village and checking each of them."

Lee Hae-seung left his descendants land measuring two million square meters in Seoul as well as Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do provinces. But only a small patch of four square meters was returned to the government. The Heritage of Korean Independence, an organization of descendants of independence fighters, formed its own investigative panel and has been working to find land owned by pro-Japanese collaborators and their families. The organization confirmed the ownership of land presumed to be owned by pro-Japanese collaborators' families, based on land registry certificates and maps from the era of Japanese colonial rule.

[Soundbite] (INVESTIGATIVE PANEL MEMBER, HERITAGE OF KOREAN INDEPENDENCE) : "Land registries drawn by the Japanese colonial government contain the lot numbers, sizes and owners of the properties. We track down the owners like this."

Through these efforts, the group has discovered land totaling 167,000 square meters. Upon the organization's request, the government is now moving to seize 15 of the newly found lots. This land is owned by a descendant of another pro-Japanese collaborator Im Sun-jun. The government won a court injunction to bar any transaction of this land. Located in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do Province, this farmland was confirmed to belong to a descendant of a pro-Japanese collaborator by the Heritage of Korean Independence. The organization has discovered more pieces of land owned by descendants of five pro-Japanese collaborators, which are valued at 15 billion won. It plans to ask the government to also seize those properties.