Do you remember the ‘731 Unit’
of the Japanese Army ? It was a unit that conducted brutal biological experiments on humans during World War II. People were called ‘maruta’ which means ‘log’. As the Japanese government thoroughly covered up the reality, it was still hidden in the veil 83 years later, but recently, the rank and name of Unit 731 was revealed for the first time. Reporter Shin Soo-ah took this list and traced the traces of Unit 731 members in Japan. ◀ Report ▶ Unit 731 in Japan conducted biological experiments on at least 3,000 Koreans and Chinese. It was a brutal and heinous war crime, but the Japanese government destroyed all traces by burning all documents. However, a Japanese scholar recently found a list of the names of Unit 731 members. [Matsuno Seiya/Researcher at Meiji Gakuin University International Peace Research Institute] “Because it is a table of staff as of August 22, 1940, right after the birth of the Kwantung Army Quarantine and Water Supply Department, it is the first data to clearly show who was there at that time. no see.” The names of 222 people written on the order list. Why are these names only now known to the world, and what kind of truth-finding can be done with this document? Let’s meet the people who are tracking Unit 731 in Japan right now.
When I was 14, I went to visit 93-year-old Hideo Sumizu, who served in Unit 731.
He remembered the specimen room where ‘Maruta’ was dissected alive and displayed.
[Hideo Sumizu/Former juvenile member of Unit 731]
“The terrible thing was that there was a sample of a woman and a child inside the ship…”
Looking at the list, I asked if anyone remembered it.
[Hideo Sumizu/Former Youth Member of Unit 731]
“(In my unit), even the person who taught me didn’t tell me my name at all. It was all a secret. So I only called them by rank…” Peace in
Nagano Prefecture, where the Unit 731 Exhibition스포츠토토 Hall is located I also visited the memorial, but there was no material to support the list.
This is because the exhibition of testimonies of unit members was canceled due to the opposition of the Japanese local government.
[Hideaki Hara/Peace Data Collection Committee]
“There is no museum on display about Unit 731. Also (according to the Japanese government’s answer to the Diet), there is no official document stating that Unit 731 conducted germ warfare.”
Meanwhile, the reporter met a person who said he knew a name on the list.
A murder case by poison that took place at the Imperial Bank in Tokyo in 1948.
When the case of 12 people poisoned fell into a mystery, the Japanese police called a man as a reference to investigate, and it was said that the man was a member of Unit 731.
And he found that name in the job description released this time.
“The name of the photographer is Mr. Kokata… He used to be a photographer for the ‘Oriental Photo Industry.
If true, it means that the Japanese government has been separately managing the list of members of Unit 731 for a long time.
Unit 731 is being denied even its existence amid the systematic cover-up of the Japanese government.
Members of Unit 731 who participated in the brutal experiments returned to universities and hospitals in large numbers immediately after the war and lived a wealthy and stable life.
This is Shin Soo-ah from MBC News.
