DPRK History Society indicts Japan for its crimes during Imjin War
KCNA
Pyongyang, May 8 (KCNA) -- The history Society of the DPRK Wednesday issued a statement denouncing the criminal acts Japan perpetrated in the period of the Imjin War (from 1592 to 1598).
Japan invaded Korea under an absurd pretext that the latter did not allow the former to go to Ming dynasty through Korea.
During the war the Japanese troops killed or kidnapped hundreds of thousands of Koreans in their occupied areas and destroyed or looted many cultural treasures.
The three-part statement cites detailed facts to prove them.
Referring to the truth about the "grave of ears" in Kyoto, Japan, the statement says:
The "grave of ears" indicts the then Japanese ruling quarters headed by Hideyoshi Toyotomi for the most monstrous massacre of Koreans in history committed by their troops during the war by their order.
Toyotomi issued an order to cut noses, saying:
"Man has two ears but one nose. So cut noses of Koreans instead of their heads. A soldier will be allowed to capture Koreans alive only after he has cut a one doe of noses." doe means dry measure.
Japanese aggressors went so barbarous as to kill Koreans irrespective of sex and even infant babies. They sent their pickled noses to Japan.
Hidemoto Okauchi who participated in the war in the book "Story About Korea" vol. 2 wrote that the number of the people whose ears were buried in the "grave of ears" reached 214, 752 and among them 185, 738 were Koreans.
The grave was originally called a grave of noses. But later its name was changed into the grave of ears to play down its barbarous nature.
The statement also laid bare the truth about man-hunting and plunder of cultural treasures perpetrated by the Japanese aggressors during the war. They took at least 100,000 Koreans to Japan by force and vandalized or looted many artifacts listed as national treasures.
Most of them were handicraftsmen, doctors, printing technicians and confucianists. A large number of young pretty women were also taken to Japan and they were forced to provide their sex to the Japanese nobility. This proves that the sexual slavery committed by the imperial Japanese army in the 20th century was a continuation of what was committed by their ancestors centuries ago.
After occupying Hansong (Seoul), the then capital of Korea, aggressors committed such barbarity as setting fire to the ancestral temple of the royal family, digging the son and Jong mausoleums, looting articles inside them and setting the coffins on fire.
They shipped to Japan most of the books printed in Korea including the complete collection of Buddhist sutras of Koryo listed as a national treasure.
They also looted scores of fine art pieces of national value.
Referring to the lesson drawn from the Imjin War, the statement warned that the Japanese authorities should not think that the Koreans have forgotten their enemy who left indelible scars on them with the passage of time. They should opt for atoning for their crimes, not oblivious of the historical lesson.
Japan should honestly admit the crimes it committed against the Korean nation in the past, teach the coming generations not to repeat the crimes, clearly settle its crime-ridden past and strive for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries as it pledged in the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration, the statement concludes.
