[Correspondent’s column] Chosei coal mine tragedy may have silver lining for North and South Korea

By Hong Seock-jae, Tokyo correspondent

“They are saying my great-grandfather labored within the Chosei coal mine.” 

Park Geum-sok was solely a baby when, in 1988, he first heard the tragic story of his great-grandfather, Park Seok-ki, whom he’d by no means met. His great-grandfather was one of many Korean employees who died when the Chosei coal mine at Tokonami Seashore within the southeastern Japanese metropolis of Ube, collapsed in 1942. 

The mine entrance was constructed alongside the seaside, the shaft sufficiently big for 2 individuals to enter at a time. The mine went a number of kilometers into the bottom, extending underneath the ocean flooring. Staff from the Korean Peninsula, then a colony of Japan, joined poor, low-class Japanese laborers within the pitch-black darkness underneath the ocean flooring, the place they mined coal on the behest of navy management who required pure assets for the struggle. 

On Feb. 2, 1942, water began leaking into the mine, for causes nonetheless unknown. In the long run, a complete of 183 Korean and Japanese employees tragically died because the mine collapsed. Park’s great-grandfather was amongst them. 

“My great-grandfather was born within the village of Jiseok, Changdo County, Gangwon Province. He was forcibly taken to Japan by the Japanese through the colonial occupation. He died for nothing when the mine flooded,” Park stated. 

“My great-grandmother demanded the discharge of his corpse, however the Japanese replied, ‘The individuals of Joseon ought to really feel honored to have given their lives in service to the Japanese Empire,’ and didn’t return the corpse.”

In January 1945, after returning to his hometown from Ube, Park’s great-grandmother returned along with his grandfather. “Enthusiastic about my great-grandfather’s corpse mendacity within the ocean for over 80 years, I really feel so indignant, it’s unbelievable. I can’t even specific it. Once I think about my great-grandfather’s corpse underwater, my chest tightens up,” Park stated. 

“The Japanese authorities should get better not solely my great-grandfather’s stays however the stays of all pressured laborers taken from Korea who’ve been uncared for all this time, and return them to their surviving descendants,” he added.  

Park lives in Changdo County, Kangwon Province, which is presently a part of North Korea. In August of 2025, Park’s story was printed by the Choson Sinbo, the official paper of the Chongryon, or the Common Affiliation of Korean Residents in Japan, a corporation of Zainichi Koreans with conventional ties to North Korea. 

The “Chosei Tanko no Mizuhijo wo Rekishi ni Kizamu Kai” (Affiliation to Report the Chosei Coal Mine Flooding) is a Japanese civic group that has labored to convey the reality in regards to the accident to mild. The group has drafted a listing of victims, together with 5 individuals from North Korea. In February 2025, the group despatched a listing of the victims to the Affiliation of Korean Victims of Forcible Drafting, an organ operated by the federal government of North Korea.

The group has labored for over 30 years to uncover the reality. Up to now two years, they pinpointed the mine shaft location deep underground. They even confirmed the placement of victims’ stays. Concurrently, the painful historical past behind the Chosei mine collapse 84 years in the past is rising. The shaft was first found throughout on-site explorations in 2024. On the time, I usually talked about how I needed to see delicate historic points resolved via the Chosei mine investigation and the restoration of victims’ stays — each Korean and Japanese. 

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae agreed to conduct joint DNA exams concerning the potential stays of Korean victims throughout her assembly with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday. I used to be comfortable to see the chief of Japan, the nation answerable for imperial wars over 80 years in the past, make such a promise. 

The stays of Korean employees from what’s now North Korea are additionally underwater. If DNA exams affirm the stays of people who find themselves neither South Korean nor Japanese, there’s a likelihood the stays will likely be despatched to North Korea via cooperation with North Korean authorities. 

Final yr, concerning the freeze in inter-Korean relations, Lee stated, “We’d like a gap, even when it’s as small as the attention of a needle.”

Within the pitch-black undersea mine, we could discover an sudden ray of hope for inter-Korean and Korea-Japan relations. 

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