S Korean film about forced labor in Japan sets box office record

Good publicity for this UNESCO World Heritage site! Sure Japan will be happy about this free publicity!

History matters. It links with family trees.

Its going to be great to see the reception this gets in Japan!

So where can I see this here in Japan?

They forgot the rest of the article's title. Here, let me help: ...sets box office record IN SOUTH KOREA..I think an interview of 1000 Japanese people would turn up not even one who'd heard of or wanted to see this movie.

Mocheake

But hopefully it'll be viewed ALL OVER THE WORLD!

I look forward to seeing this. History shouldn't just gloss over unpleasant or unpalatable facts.

Japanese wouldn't know about it because they are universally in denial about even the 1% chance that any Japanese person could ever do something wrong, let alone the nation as a whole.

I was born and brought up in Nagasaki city. In the 1970s, I would often go for sea bathing to the coast where we could see Hashima island (= so-called “Battleship Island”) very closely.　 I have never heard that Korean people were forced to work in the island during World War II. I suppose that most of the Nagasaki citizens don’t know the story of this movie.

I'd like to see that too. But remember that since after the war there was no money to repatriate them, most of the Chinese and Koreans brought over as slave laborers during the war or their descendants are still here, and in the 4th generation. They are the "Korean residents in Japan" 在日韓国人 and "Chinese residents in Japan" 在日中国人, and now special permanent residents (特別永住者). They can now naturalize very easily, and (maybe ironically), one of the big family disputes in these families is between the young generation want to naturalize and the parents who say they have to maintain the tradition and identity. I saw this with a couple of my special permanent resident friends.

Japanese wouldn't know about it because they are universally in denial about even the 1% chance that any Japanese person could ever do something wrong, let alone the nation as a whole.

This, of course, is nonsensical generalising on a vast scale.

Of course there are always those who will remain indifferent or ignorant to the details of history. But Japanese people are as clued up as any other people.

I hope the film is as neutral as it can be, given the subject matter.

Coming soon to a japanese theater near you - NOT.

Toasted Heretic, seriously??

But Japanese people are as clued up as any other people.

Really? Wake up!

I have never heard that Korean people were forced to work in the island during World War II. I suppose that most of the Nagasaki citizens don’t know the story of this movie.

I have never heard that Korean people were forced to work in the island during World War II. I suppose that most of the Nagasaki citizens don’t know the story of this movie.

And this right here folks is why any semblance of an 'apology' can not and will not be accepted without complete and utter contrition.

Let Abe and his ultra right wing friends - sorry, acquaintances - try to worm their way out of this one!

Coming soon to a japanese theater near you - NOT.

http://www.allkpop.com/article/2017/06/battleship-island-gains-immense-interest-overseas

Toasted Heretic, seriously??

Yes, that's why I said it. I imagine it will be divisive, of course. This very thread; for instance...

Thats fine, the Koreans can poison their own minds and sit around harbouring bitterness toward Japan.

This will all be forgotten a generation from now.

If I were as fractured and conflicted a nation as Korea, Id spend more energy on my own country instead of beating the right wing drum and making it a part of education.

I can't wait for the fallout from some Japanese politician to claim that they were only giving them jobs to help them out!

They all look very well fed, and with nicely groomed eyebrows for forced laborers. Does that mean the Japanese treated them nicely?

It's hard to take this kind of thing seriously, especially if the Koreans themselves don't. Too worried about how they look. If the kingdom of plastic surgery is trying to show how much its people suffered, at least make the surgically enhanced stars look a little bit more crappy.

I'm sure Korea made it required viewing for it to break their record.

Probably PM Moon trying to get the Koreans distracted from their massive inequality and unemployment issues.

At least the forced labor programs were real and documented with little dispute from any side. Contrast this to the absurd Comfort Women clams. The only pitfall of this movie is that it may give viewers the picture that all Koreans working in Japan during WWII were forced labor. Immigration from Korea to Japan by people seeking better economic opportunities started soon after the 1910 annexation giving Korean people Japanese citizenship. Koreans men were also part of the Imperial Japanese Army as well, with a Korean General convicted as a Class-A War Criminal as the head of the POW camps in the Philippines. We all remember that issue. If this movie realistically depicts the life and conditions under the forced labor program it's a good thing. But if it's stretched to create more anti-Japan sentiment than it is due, then it's a step backwards for the two nations.

Allied POW's remember the Korean guards at Japanese camps in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines being even more vicious and sadistic than the Japanese guards (and that is saying a lot). The Koreans suffered under the Japanese, but much less so than the Chinese, Europeans, and Southeast Asians who were also enslaved. "Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" don't come close to telling the story. An accurate production would be too violent and bloody even by today's standards.

Different times to be endlessly discussed has no result. Much sadness could happen at that time where most of Asian countries were colonized...All those sadness should be vanished when we think a better future here and there!

I wonder it will be released in Japan.

"Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" don't come close to telling the story. An accurate production would be too violent and bloody even by today's standards.

Couldn't be as violent and/or bloody as any production of the Rape of Nanking right? Yeah, I doubt it would be.

I would like to see this movie if it is a factual recollection of the plight of the enslaved workers. However, I fear it will be an over-dramatised load of self-pitying drivel.

When Head of the State is in denial representing the people of Japan that's "univeral" enough for me...

I find it depressing when a country focuses on its past suffering at the hands of others. (I live in a country which is prone to do this kind of thing too. ) It provides an excuse to not better yourself. It's much more motivating when you find out your ancestors could be real b*****ds just like in those bigger countries. When there's a movie from South Korea about its own behavior in Vietnam, I'll start cheering. (And if there is one already, I apologize.) Meanwhile, I'm trying to find a Scottish movie that explains why so many descendants of African slaves have Scottish surnames.

@tokyodoumo

The head of state does not equal to the entire Japanese population. Not all are supportive of the LDP and Abe. Abe's government is falling anyway in support due to scandals and losing a crucial assembly election to Koike in Tokyo. Next year election might be a new government in power. I'm not saying it will change the stance of historical issues, but at least a low possibility of bringing something to heal ties unlike the current corrupt government. The younger generation have no clue about this event due to government interference on history textbooks, it is not entirely there fault. Not all Japanese are denial, some who study outside the country and some living in the nation knows it and have apologize on the nation's behalf. Whether or not the movie will release in Japan is up to the current government which of course they will block it.

Toasted HereticJuly 27  06:20 pm JST

Of course there are always those who will remain indifferent or ignorant to the details of history. But Japanese people are as clued up as any other people.

I hope the film is as neutral as it can be, given the subject matter.

The big question that the article fails to explain is: Is this based on a true story? Is it a movie based on a real event (WW2) and factual evidence (History)? or is it a movie based on a real event but a fictional story line? Actually, I googled it, and found out that the story about the prison break is completely fictional.

Otherwise, there have been many Hollywood movies made about Pearl Harbor or Iwojima with no backlash from the general Japanese population. As long as viewers (including Koreans) realize that the story is fictional but the conditions during that era are based on historical evidence (even though exaggerated because it's a movie), then I don't see an issue with the movie. It's just a movie...

I hope the film is as neutral as it can be, given the subject matter.

That was supposed to be q quote from Toasted Heretic as well. Sorry.

"Allied POW's remember the Korean guards at Japanese camps in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines being even more vicious and sadistic than the Japanese guards (and that is saying a lot)."

I've come across this kind of comment numerous times online. I don't doubt that Koreans serving in the Japanese military during World War II often behaved brutally, as I'm sure the motivation for "transfer of oppression" was even higher for them than for the almost as badly treated ethnic Japanese soldiers. But one thing I've always wondered is this--How did the Allied POWs distinguish ethnic Korean from ethnic Japanese guards at Japanese camps? The Allied POWs in Southeast Asia were overwhelmingly white people born in circa 1920 and coming from Britain or the United States (and maybe Australia/New Zealand in smaller numbers). Were such people really so adept at distinguishing Koreans from Japanese? Most white Americans, Britons, Australians, and New Zealanders cannot tell the two people apart even today. Or did ethnic Korean guards wear special uniforms to distinguish themselves as not ethnically Japanese? I would have to assume that ethnic Korean guards spoke proficiently in Japanese, so I doubt the language they were speaking gave them away.

This, of course, is nonsensical generalising on a vast scale.

Vast? Hmmm...I can tell you with quite a bit of confidence that there are far, far, too many Japanese today, meaning those basically in their 30's & 40's and younger that have no idea the horrors the people went through at the hands of the IJA.

History books are being rewritten(white-washed) to make Japan appear the victim, more than the aggressor. History teachers spend little time at all on WWII making the excuse that it's a tiny part of Japan's 2,000 plus years of culture and history.

Let's not even begin to talk about what happened here in Okinawa.

It's not as nonsensical nor over-generalizing as you may think. Far too many are apathetic to their own history and care little for it, and far too many as well do not understand the noise coming from their neighbors either.

MASSWIPEToday  05:12 am JST

"Allied POW's remember the Korean guards at Japanese camps in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines being even more vicious and sadistic than the Japanese guards (and that is saying a lot)."

But one thing I've always wondered is this--How did the Allied POWs distinguish ethnic Korean from ethnic Japanese guards at Japanese camps? 

They didn't for the most part. How could they? All this came out AFTER Japan surrendered and the Allies had access to to documents and interrogations of IJA members. Many Koreans used Japanese names and were indistinguishable from Japanese, in most cases even from other Japanese.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C195473

"Following World War II, trials of Class-B/C Japanese war criminals, who were charged with abusing and torturing civilians and war prisoners, took place at 49 locations across Asia. In those courts, about 5,700 people were indicted and more than 900 were executed. Among the prosecuted were 148 Koreans, and 23 of them were executed."

Obviously they wouldn't have been given permission to use Gunkanjima itself due to the controversy so I'm curious where they filmed this.

Well if you stop to take a look, all WWII combatants have pretty much forgiven each other and are focused on current issues. There are only two countries that continue to harp on WWII history.

3 countries. Japan should also be included in that group.

lomaeToday 09:43 am JSTWell if you stop to take a look, all WWII combatants have pretty much forgiven each other and are focused on current issues. There are only two countries that continue to harp on WWII history.

3 countries. Japan should also be included in that group.

No, I haven't heard of any Anti-American sentiment based on WWII. Even the A-bombs don't inspire Anti-American sentiment, just Anti-War and Anti-Nuclear Proliferation sentiments. The only aspect of modern Japan still tied to WWII is their phobia or war and any military advancement, most of that cultivated by decades of expecting the U.S. to defend them.

Tokyodoumo & Traler Shi:

The prime minister is head of govt, not head of state. The emperor is the non-executive head of state (figurehead, symbol).

I'd rather not judge, before seeing the movie myself. An intelligent adult should be able to distinguish art from propaganda. " Life Is Beautiful " is also a fiction, yet it contained elements of historical reality. The way these two were combined to create the narrative was what made it a masterpiece. Even Jolie's Unbroken got many positive reviews and now you can rent it in TSUTAYA, although Japanese were depicted like , basically, monsters.

This is utter bs that is common currency amongst the bitter expat community. I personally have met with Japanese business men and women who have told me their opinions and feelings about Japan and WW2. And, so, no, it's not a universal that Japanese are in denial. Maybe you never really talk to Japanese.

Precisely. There's a certain narrative at work with some of the ex-pats to do down the Japanese as much as possible. A bit of criticism of your host nation is fine and healthy but a constant series of slapdowns and false statements is just plain nasty.

Hey; the film could be controversial, rubbish or just dull. But it's been bought for screening over here, so maybe it will spark fresh discussion.

But Japanese people here and abroad are intelligent, knowledgeable and curious. Just like everyone else.

thepersoniamnow: "This will all be forgotten a generation from now."

You guys have been hoping and praying and tossing money towards South Korea for that to happen for generations. Won't happen as long as the denial continues.

OssanAmerica: "No, I haven't heard of any Anti-American sentiment based on WWII."

That's what a eyes closed and ears plugged gets you. They also gripe more than anyone in the world when Japanese atrocities are brought up by ANYONE.

I could only hope that some television station is going to broadcast the film nationawide. Of course they would probably have to apologise 20 times to the Abe's party, but hey, this is the game for everyone. Apologising gets things done around the Land of Once Rising Sun.

Many Koreans used Japanese names and were indistinguishable from Japanese, in most cases even from other Japanese.

Ossanamerica, I cant believe you actually typed that, unbelievable

GWToday 10:10 pm JSTMany Koreans used Japanese names and were indistinguishable from Japanese, in most cases even from other Japanese.

Ossanamerica, I cant believe you actually typed that, unbelievable

Why? Do you think I'm making it up? Aren't you aware that one of the things about the 1910-1945 colonization of Korea by Japan that Koreans complain about was that they made Koreans use Japanese names? Rather than finding a known fact unbelievable suggest you educate yourself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%8Dshi-kaimei

Places of forced labor, like Gunkanjima, are places where Koreans suffered beatings and death.

In the present day, relatives of the deceased still seek out these places to pay respect to relatives.

However, in recent years local governments have started to block access to certain areas where mines and camps were located.

Compared with Germany, Japan shows tendencies toward secrecy and concealment.

Monuments to victims of war are promoted and advertised in Germany for all of those wishing to gain knowledge of the past.

The Japanese policy where history is to be hidden and thus open to ignorant revision will not allow those with a more accurate historical understanding of history to ever trust the Japanese.......

The story line for this film is completely fictitious. Much to the amusement of Japanese, it turns out that a key photograph used in the PR for this film that allegedly was one of the Korean forced laborers turns out to be a photograph of a Japanese at a different coal mine decades before Korea was annexed to say nothing of being more than a half century earlier than when this film is set.

This news was broken first by the Chuo Nippo 中央日報 a Korean newspaper. The history professor who was advisor on both the PR for the film and the film itself has admitted that he did not properly verify the photograph.

So far this has been reported only in Korean and Japanese but just yesterday I did a translation for one of the major Japanese newspapers so presumably it will be appearing in their English edition.

The Chuo Nippo publishes a Japanese language edition. Their article on this was one of the items I used as background for my translation.

http://japanese.joins.com/article/663/231663.html

As for claims about ethnic Koreans in Japan being predominantly related to forced laborers, this is simply not true. Forced labor was only brought in during the last two years of the war. Surveys of ethnic Koreans in Japan show that only about 10% claim to have ancestors who came in as forced labor.

Aside from forced labor and comfort women, Koreans served in the Japanese military with a number making it to the rank of general. The father of Park Genu-hye the last but one president of Korea was a rising star in the Japanese army that controlled Manchuria. A number of the major figures in post-war Korean politics had been mid-rank Japanese military officers.

It seldom gets reported in English, but among those honored at Yasukuni Shrine are a number of Koreans and Taiwan Chinese.

Koreans in Japan also founded a number of successful businesses, Lotte being the one most likely to be known to foreigners. Softbank was founded by a naturalized Korean Son Masayoshi. In 2017 Forbes put his net personal worth at $23 billion. The wildly popular communications application LINE was developed by the Japanese subsidiary of a Korean company.

kurisupisuToday 08:10 am JSTPlaces of forced labor, like Gunkanjima, are places where Koreans suffered beatings and death.

Can you provide links to support this? Forced labor was a desperate attempt by a country clearly losing the war. We aren't talking about POW camps.

@OssanAmerica.How about the quote below and evidence of harsh treatment records on the walls in a Nagasaki museum right here in Japan!

Thousands of Koreans were murdered in Korea for demonstrating against Japanese rule and whole villages massacred by Imperial troops for harboring and abetting resistance groups.Some posters view the film as fiction but past events i.e. beatings and murder most certainly were not fiction....

> The Island was a living hell. You could not dare to escape it because of high breakwaters and huge waves. By the end of the war, Koreans were involved in dangerous work and they were often vulnerable to violence of mine supervisors,” recalled Park Jun-gu, 87, a victim of the mine.

In the peace museum at Nagasaki, testimonies from Korean forced laborers line the walls, collated by museum director Yasunori Takazane. “The common stories I heard from Korean and Chinese laborers was that they are enormously hungry. The meals were miserable and when they could not go to work they were tortured, punched and kicked.”

The Justice and joint Defence minister Fumio Kishida is on the record as saying that there was no forced labor and that Korean laborers were not coerced!

Well, this is a typical revisionist fallacious comment that people with power and poor historical education make only too often.

it's woefully sad.......

kurisupisuToday 08:10 am JSTPlaces of forced labor, like Gunkanjima, are places where Koreans suffered beatings and death.

I asked you for a link which you have not provided. While I have found information about the Korean forced labor on the island I have not found anything referring to "beatings and death" there.

They include 90-year-old Joo Seok-bong, one of several Koreans suing Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal – the Japanese firm that now owns the Yawata steel plant where he worked towards the end of the war – for unpaid wages and an apology."

“I was always starving since I received very little food,” Joo, who was put to work at the steel mill in 1943, told the Associated Press. “We were terrified of dying in bombings, but I suffered from hunger the most.”

Hunger and lack of food of course was nationwide in Japan in the closing days of the war. This is common knowledge.

In return for living in near-forced isolation, and in such unforgiving conditions, Gunkanjima residents were granted a few perks. Their apartments, though small, contained the latest electrical appliances, and the monthly household electricity bill came to a paltry one yen. The island had its own cinema, sports facilities, hospital, school, bathhouse and graveyard. Fresh water and electricity was supplied from the mainland, nine miles away.

There is a tendency to create allegations of torture and murder whenever pre-1945 Japan and Korea comes up. For example, the author of "Broken" had written that 5000 Koreans were murdered on Tinian Island by Japanese troops, and when asked for substantiation she ignored it. A $10,000 reward was offered to anyone who could provide evidence of this claim of mass murder, and to date no one has submitted any. Therefore it is imperative that such claims, which dilute real documented incidents and simply fuel vilification be cleared. Gunkanjima had about 5000 inhabitants mostly Japanese plus Korean forced labor. There's little doubt that the Koreans faced harsh conditions, but that's far cry from beatings and murder. I'm not accepting or denying your claim, just looking for verifiable substantiation.

Korea complained about the island being listed as a UNESCO heritage site and asked Japan to make sure that force labour was mentioned. They came to an amicable solution and the site was then listed. Who then remembers this stab in the back:

On the same day, immediately after the UNESCO WHC meeting, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida publicly announced that "the remarks [forced to work under harsh conditions] by the Japanese government representative did not mean 'forced labor'".

(from Wikipedia).

Last I heard Japan was refusing to pay the UNESCO fees, throwing a hissy fit about documents relating to their evil deeds in Nanjing. So how come they're still getting new sites registered? I'd love to know how they have their cake AND eat it.

I asked you for a link which you have not provided. While I have found information about the Korean forced labor on the island I have not found anything referring to "beatings and death" there.

I wonder what happened if any that refused to work? Perhaps the military contacted the human resources department and asked them to issue a verbal warning.

Pukey2Today 12:42 am JSTKorea complained about the island being listed as a UNESCO heritage site and asked Japan to make sure that force labour was mentioned. They came to an amicable solution and the site was then listed. Who then remembers this stab in the back:

On the same day, immediately after the UNESCO WHC meeting, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida publicly announced that "the remarks [forced to work under harsh conditions] by the Japanese government representative did not mean 'forced labor'".

How is that "stabbing anyone in the back"? Do you for a moment think that the Japanese workers who were on the island along with the Koreans didn't work under harsh conditions?

Ah_soToday 04:00 am JSTI asked you for a link which you have not provided. While I have found information about the Korean forced labor on the island I have not found anything referring to "beatings and death" there.

I wonder what happened if any that refused to work? Perhaps the military contacted the human resources department and asked them to issue a verbal warning.

You're speculating, Places where "beatings and death" occurred are documented as such. And they certainly do exist. But I don't see any for this island.

TexasDaddy:

Do you for a moment think that the Japanese workers who were on the island along with the Koreans didn't work under harsh conditions?

OK, so Japan has also stabbed its own people in the back. Better?

for a moment - for one moment

Places where "beatings and death" occurred are documented as such. And they certainly do exist. But I don't see any for this island.

YOU don't see it (or choose not to see), and so it never happened.

You're speculating, Places where "beatings and death" occurred are documented as such. And they certainly do exist. But I don't see any for this island.

Yes, I am speculating, but we know on the whole that the Japanese military was brutal and that slave labour was used at the mine. Slavery is always backed by the use or the threat of the use of force, so by definition, force, or the threat of force was used in this mine. I do not need to provide evidence of this.

The only question was whether the threat of force was ever exercised through violence. I would also assume that it was at times - if a threat is never exercised at all, it loses impact. But it is possible that the workers were always in such fear of their lives that they never put a foot wrong and gave '100% for the glory of the Japanese Empire every waking hour and it was never necessary to beat anyone. Possible, but unlikely in my opinion.

Given the balance of probabilities, the absence of evidence (I will take your word for this) is not evidence in itself that it did not happen

Ah_soJuly 30 07:07 pm JSTYou're speculating, Places where "beatings and death" occurred are documented as such. And they certainly do exist. But I don't see any for this island.

Yes, I am speculating, but we know on the whole that the Japanese military was brutal and that slave labour was used at the mine.

Yes you are speculating, by extending documented brutality in other places to this island.

Pukey2July 30 12:03 pm JSTTexasDaddy:

Knock off this Texasdaddy will you? Tony is a Trump supporter. I am not. Get a clue already.

Do you for a moment think that the Japanese workers who were on the island along with the Koreans didn't work under harsh conditions?

OK, so Japan has also stabbed its own people in the back. Better?

Show me a link to that too.

for a moment - for one moment

Places where "beatings and death" occurred are documented as such. And they certainly do exist. But I don't see any for this island.

YOU don't see it (or choose not to see), and so it never happened.

I don't see it even though I'm looking for "beatings and murder on Gunkanjima". I'm asking for links but nobody can provide any. Right now yea, it's looking like IT NEVER HAPPENED more than anything else.