Stickers for Items by “War Crime” Japan Firms Eyed in S. Korea

March 20, 2019

Seoul- A proposal has been submitted to a South Korean provincial assembly to oblige stickers to be placed on school products that were made by certain "war crime" Japanese companies that used South Korean laborers during World War II, it was learned Wednesday.

The proposal is expected to be submitted to a plenary session of the assembly of Gyeonggi-do, near Seoul, in early April, according to the Chosun Ilbo, a major South Korean daily.

According to the website of the assembly, the proposal was sponsored by 27 assembly members, including representatives from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.

The proposal says it is intended to recognize the attitudes of Japanese companies that have not made an official apology or paid compensation over their use of wartime forced laborers although they inflicted damage on South Korean nationals, and to establish a correct recognition of history among students.

It targets companies that caused damage to the lives and properties of South Korean people, mainly through wartime forced labor, naming 284 companies from a list of war crime firms announced by a committee of the South Korean prime minister's office.

Also targeted are companies that were established after the end of the war with funds from war crime firms as well as shareholders in such firms. Jiji Press