No. 1422 Victims of Flooding Accident at Chosei Coal Mine
The Chosei Coal Mine is undersea mine. Due to the roof-fall accident 183 people were killed, out of which 136 people were mobilized Koreans. Recently thanks to the effort of civic organizations, remains, including sculps, were recovered from the deserted mine. The Japanese government has ignored the affair for long. This cannot be tolerated.
GOVERNMENT MUST COMMIT IN RECOVERY OF BONES OF THE DEAD
The disaster occurred February 3, 1942, two months after the opening of the war between the United States and Japan. The entrance to the mine was buried on the following day of the accident and the workers inside were abandoned. No rescue efforts were made.
The coal mine is situated at Tokonami beach, Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the most western prefecture of the main island. Many of the workers were Koreans, so people used to call the site Korean coal mine. Amid the wartime production promotion campaign, safety and security measures were overlooked and flooding accidents had taken place before the 1942 accident.
A civic organization was set up
The accident had almost faded in the mist of history. In 1991 a civic group was organized to face the tragedy sincerely – the Association to Describe Flooding Accident at Chosei Coal Mine. Flooding is a submergence accident. The association has held memorial events and researched what had really happened. In 2013 it erected a cenotaph near the disaster site.
Over ten years have passed since then. In September 2024 the civic group started to dig the buried entrance so as to recover the remains of victims. The organization had collected money through crowdfunding. That was a feat, while the government has been reluctant in taking actions in spite of the repeated appeals of the group.
Ms Inoue Yoko, Joint Representative of the said association, says;
‘Our responsibility lies in finding bones to send them to their homes, respectively. I have sincerely recognized that again.’
The 2005 Agreement between ROK and Japan
Last August 25 the civic team has successfully found three pieces of bones, including a thigh bone during the sixth-round of diving search. Next day the divers found a sculp, too. The achievement was great, which was motivated by the firm determination of bereaved families of Koreans and Japanese as well as the enthusiasm of the civic group.
Now the focus has shifted to how the Japanese government will respond to the recovery of remains. In 2005 between the two governments of Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan an agreement was reached on returning remains of drafted Koreans before and during the war by the private companies. Under this agreement to be returned are those remains preserved in the Buddhist temples.
Now that bones of the victims were recovered around the disaster site, the Japanese government is not allowed to be idle. Civic groups and the ROK government have DNA data of some of the victims. The government of Japan must commit in identification of the remains by way of DNA tests.
State’s policy to boost coal production
A law called, the Act on Promotion of Collection of Remains of the War Dead, was enacted in 2016, which stipulates that recovery of bones is a responsibility of the state. But the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare only deals with cases of ‘those killed in the battlefields.’ The victims at Chosei mine are not included within the Ministry’s domain.
The workers at Chosei Coal Mine were drafted amid the war along the nation’s policy to excavate coal, a strategic material, and they were killed in the accident. It is the government of Japan that must involve in recovering remains to send them to respective families who have been waiting for a return. That is a humanitarian endeavor and responsibility.
海底炭鉱の落盤事故で１８３人が犠牲になり、うち１３６人は朝鮮半島出身者という。炭坑跡から民間団体の努力で頭蓋骨を含む遺骨が収容された。黙殺を決め込む日本政府の対応は、許されない。
大惨事が起きたのは日米開戦から２カ月後の１９４２年２月３日。坑口は翌日埋められ、労働者は救出されることなく遺棄されたのだ。
炭鉱は山口県宇部市の床波海岸にあり、朝鮮人労働者の比率が高いことから「朝鮮炭鉱」とも言われた。戦時増産体制で保安・安全は軽視され、事故前にも何度か出水事故が確認された炭鉱だった。
市民団体の結成で
歴史の彼方に忘却されようとしていた大惨事と向き合う市民団体「長生炭鉱の水非常を歴史に刻む会」が１９９１年に結成された。「水非常」は炭鉱用語で水没事故のことで、刻む会は、調査や追悼行事を行い、２０１３年には現場近くに追悼碑を建立した。
それから10年以上たった24年９月、刻む会は埋められた坑口を掘り出すなど遺骨収容に着手、資金はクラウドファンディングなどで集めた。刻む会が繰り返し求めても、政府が重い腰を上げない中での具体化だった。
「刻む会」共同代表の井上洋子さんは「遺骨を探し出し、それぞれの故郷に帰って頂くまでが私たちの責任なのだと、改めて自覚した」と言う。
05年の「日韓合意」
そして今年の８月25日、６回目の潜水調査で大腿骨など３本の人骨を収容、翌日は頭蓋骨も見つかった。日朝の犠牲者の遺族の強い気持ちと刻む会の熱意による大きな成果だ。
課題は政府が遺骨収容にどう対応するかに移った。05年には、朝鮮半島からの民間徴用者の遺骨返還が日韓で合意されているが、寺院などに保管されている遺骨が対象だ。
しかし、事故の犠牲者の遺骨が事故現場で収容されたからには政府が放置することは許されない。市民団体や韓国政府は一部犠牲者のＤＮＡデータを保有しており、日本政府は遺骨のＤＮＡ鑑定で身元を特定すべきだ。
石炭増産の国策で
「戦没者遺骨収集推進法」（16年成立)は遺骨収集を国の責務とするが、厚労省は対象を「戦闘行為で亡くなった人」などとし、長生炭鉱の犠牲者は対象には当らないとする。
長生炭鉱の犠牲者は、戦時下の国策で戦略物資の石炭を採掘していて事故に遭った戦没者。政府が遺骨収容に関わり、返還を待つ遺族に届けることが人道であり、責任である。
英訳版↓
No. 1422 Victims of Flooding Accident at Chosei Coal Mine
The Chosei Coal Mine is undersea mine. Due to the roof-fall accident 183 people were killed, out of which 136 people were mobilized Koreans. Recently thanks to the effort of civic organizations, remains, including sculps, were recovered from the deserted mine. The Japanese government has ignored the affair for long. This cannot be tolerated.
GOVERNMENT MUST COMMIT IN RECOVERY OF BONES OF THE DEAD
The disaster occurred February 3, 1942, two months after the opening of the war between the United States and Japan. The entrance to the mine was buried on the following day of the accident and the workers inside were abandoned. No rescue efforts were made.
The coal mine is situated at Tokonami beach, Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the most western prefecture of the main island. Many of the workers were Koreans, so people used to call the site Korean coal mine. Amid the wartime production promotion campaign, safety and security measures were overlooked and flooding accidents had taken place before the 1942 accident.
A civic organization was set up
The accident had almost faded in the mist of history. In 1991 a civic group was organized to face the tragedy sincerely – the Association to Describe Flooding Accident at Chosei Coal Mine. Flooding is a submergence accident. The association has held memorial events and researched what had really happened. In 2013 it erected a cenotaph near the disaster site.
Over ten years have passed since then. In September 2024 the civic group started to dig the buried entrance so as to recover the remains of victims. The organization had collected money through crowdfunding. That was a feat, while the government has been reluctant in taking actions in spite of the repeated appeals of the group.
Ms Inoue Yoko, Joint Representative of the said association, says;
‘Our responsibility lies in finding bones to send them to their homes, respectively. I have sincerely recognized that again.’
The 2005 Agreement between ROK and Japan
Last August 25 the civic team has successfully found three pieces of bones, including a thigh bone during the sixth-round of diving search. Next day the divers found a sculp, too. The achievement was great, which was motivated by the firm determination of bereaved families of Koreans and Japanese as well as the enthusiasm of the civic group.
Now the focus has shifted to how the Japanese government will respond to the recovery of remains. In 2005 between the two governments of Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan an agreement was reached on returning remains of drafted Koreans before and during the war by the private companies. Under this agreement to be returned are those remains preserved in the Buddhist temples.
Now that bones of the victims were recovered around the disaster site, the Japanese government is not allowed to be idle. Civic groups and the ROK government have DNA data of some of the victims. The government of Japan must commit in identification of the remains by way of DNA tests.
State’s policy to boost coal production
A law called, the Act on Promotion of Collection of Remains of the War Dead, was enacted in 2016, which stipulates that recovery of bones is a responsibility of the state. But the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare only deals with cases of ‘those killed in the battlefields.’ The victims at Chosei mine are not included within the Ministry’s domain.
The workers at Chosei Coal Mine were drafted amid the war along the nation’s policy to excavate coal, a strategic material, and they were killed in the accident. It is the government of Japan that must involve in recovering remains to send them to respective families who have been waiting for a return. That is a humanitarian endeavor and responsibility.
October 8, 2025