August 17, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Saani 7, 1423

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TOKYO, Aug 16: The Japanese Red Cross Society said on Friday it had confirmed the survival in Japan of several Koreans who were forcibly taken to the country before the end of World War II.

The search was one of the requests made by the North Korean Red Cross Society in a series of talks between the two sides. Details of the tracing results will be unveiled when Japanese Red Cross officials meet their North Korean counterparts in Pyongyang on Sunday and Monday.

“We have successfully traced several missing Koreans,” a Japanese Red Cross official said in Tokyo. “Some of them were found alive and some of them have already passed away,” the official said.

“We will inform North Korean Red Cross officials of the results, including the number and their conditions, when we hold talks this weekend in Pyongyang.”

North Korea’s Red Cross has demanded Japan search for a total of 314 Koreans still missing after being forcibly taken to Japan as labourers for the Japanese military and private companies before World War II.—AFP