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February 29, 2008
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| Korea’s government will seize land worth more than 4 billion won from seven descendants of collaborators with Japan during its colonial rule here, a committee announced yesterday. According to the Investigative Commission on Pro-Japanese Collaborators’ Property, a total of 308,388 square meters (76 acres) of land worth 4.1 billion won ($4,378,003) in Gyeonggi, North Chungcheong and in South Chungcheong will be taken. The confiscated assets will be used to compensate independence fighters, as well as their descendants, for sacrifices made under Japanese colonial rule. Japan colonized Korea from 1910 to 1945. “We will notify the descendants of this decision soon. The seized properties will be owned by the Korean government,” said Jang Mi-jeong, head of the committee’s public relations. “We will continue to investigate property owned by the descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators and plan to announce the outcome this March or April.” The government set up the presidential body, including 40 investigators, in 2006 to trace the properties owned by descendants of alleged collaborator. That followed the National Assembly’s enactment in December 2005 of a special law to seize the collaborators’ assets. Assets and property sold before then were not covered. A total of 452 people were investigated, most of them officials in the cabinet of the Japanese colonial government. So far, the government body has confiscated 3,602,062 square meters of land, worth 77 billion won, from 29 descendants across the country. Much of the property was initially acquired by the collaborators due to their connections with Japan at the time of the colonization. By E Choong-hyung JoongAng Ilbo/ Park Sang-woo Staff Reporter [enational@joongang.co.kr] |
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