KOREAN EMBASSY 36, Gadogan Sguare,
London, S.W.I
Telephone: KEN: 3025
FOR IHMEDIATE RELEASE
In a sincere effort to settle once and for all the problem of Koren residents in Japan at the resumed 4th Bilateral talks between Korea and Japan, the Republic of Korea's Government takes the position that it is ready to receive or even encourage mass repatriation of Koren residents in Japan to the Republic of Korea, regardless of their political affiliations, only if the Japanese Government meets two conditions:-
First, in view of the special historical background of Korean residents in Japan - their forced immigration into Japan and also forced labour in Japanese war industries in the past - the Japanese Government should pay due compensation. Such compensation fund will be used for the repatriation to and the resettlement in the Republic of Korea of the repatriates.
Second, the repatriates should be free to take away all their properties with them without limitation to the value and amount, and without customs duties or any other charges being imposed upon such properties.
1938 In setting forth this position, the Korean Government considered that only this kind of solution would bring about a substantial reduction of the number of Korean residents in Japan, which is. obviously the real purpose of the Japanese Government in contriving to carry out, the deportation scheme. The Korean Government believes that by adopting this simple method, the problem of Korean residents in Japan will be settled to the satisfaction of the two governments involved as well as in the interest of the Korean residents affected.
The other problems of those who wish to reside continuously in Japan and all those who neither wish to repatriate to the Republic of Korea, nor to remain in Japan will be easily settled only after the above-mentioned solution has been made.
Based on the above position, the Korean Government has been making every possible effort at the Bilateral talks now being held in Tokyo to settle the problem of Korean residents as early as possible. The Government of Japan, while agreeing to the principle that all the questions concerning Korean residents in Japan should be placed on the Agenda for the talks, is nevertheless proceeding to implement the deportation scheme in spite of obvious difficulties arising out of the continuous demand of the Communist for revision of the so-called Guide Book for Returnees " which has supposedly been prepared by the Japan Red Cross in order to guarantee the freedom of choice of the individual Korean as to his future place of residence.
1939 Japan is now ready to take steps to increase the number of Korean deportees to the Communist North by further yielding. to the pressure of a certain group of Japanese politicians as well as the Communists who intend to eventually invalidate the impartial screening system which must be preserved at all costs in the deportation procedure. It is to be noted that whereas the "Mediation Plan" suggested by these Japanese politicians helps the face-saving of Japan and the Communist regime, the genuine welfare of the innocent Korean residents in Japan is bound to be ignored.
It would appear that for Japan to confess a certain principle is one thing and execution of such principle is another. The latest development in Japan regarding the deportation of Korean residents to the northern part of Korea now under the Communist control proves that the real nature of so-called group repatriation scheme sponsored by Japan in collaboration with the North Korean Communist aggressor regime is in no way humanitarian but political.
Putting it in a nutshell - "Japan cries wine and sells vinegar".

27th October, 1959.

London