18 bodies of Sakhalin Koreans returned to S.Korea

Eighteen bodies of Sakhalin Koreans, who were forcibly relocated to the Russian island of Sakhalin during Japan's colonial rule, returned home after 70 years.

The Seoul government said yesterday (Thursday) that the returned remains of the victims will be enshrined at the National Mang-Hyang Cemetery in South Chungcheong Province.

Starting from the late 1930s, the Japanese government drafted large numbers of Korean laborers to Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin to work for the mining and lumber industries.

Most of the drafted Sakhalin Koreans, unable to return to their motherland, ended up passing away in the Russian territory.