Almost 1,500 Koreans were forced to work for what are now some of Japan‘s largest conglomerates during the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula on Russia’s far eastern island of Sakhalin, a government report showed Monday.

The report, drawn up by a government committee tasked with supporting victims of forced labor during Japan‘s 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula, showed that 1,469 Koreans were forced to work at plants belonging to the Japanese firms now known as Mitsubishi and Mitsui, among others.

That number accounted for 24 percent of the total 6,120 Koreans recognized as victims of forced labor on Sakhalin.

By number, Mitsubishi mobilized the largest number of Korean workers at 609, followed by Mitsui at 334, Oji Paper at 280, and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal at 133, according to the report.

“Some of the Japanese firms that Koreans were forced to work for on Sakhalin later grew into global businesses, but they haven’t disclosed records of the workers‘ wages, postal savings and other unpaid dues, so the victims haven’t been able to receive their overdue pay,” a committee official said.

In the early 1900s, the Japanese government moved large numbers of Koreans to Sakhalin to mine coal and develop the region. Up to 30,000 Koreans are estimated to have been forced to move there.

The official noted that the Japanese government has vowed to resolve the issue of the unpaid wages despite the fact that it was not covered by a 1965 package compensation deal under which the two countries normalized their relations.

“However, the Japanese government has not made any effort until now,” he said.

(Yonhap News)