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The funeral portrait of Na Hwa-ja, a victim of the Korean Women’s Volunteer Labor Corps during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea, sits at her wake at the funeral hall of the National Medical Center in central Seoul on April 20. (courtesy of the Center for Historical Truth and Justice)

Na Hwa-ja, who was forced to provide labor as part of the Korean Women’s Volunteer Labor Corps during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea, has died. She was 91.

The Center for Historical Truth and Justice announced Thursday that Na had died around 5 pm of a chronic condition on Wednesday. She had been hospitalized at the National Medical Center.

Born in Naju, South Jeolla Province, in October 1931, Na was drafted to provide forced labor at a Fujikoshi factory in Japan’s Toyama Prefecture in February 1945, when she was in the sixth grade.

An unfamiliar man introduced by her homeroom teacher told Na about a work opportunity at Fujikoshi. The man told Na that working in Japan would allow her to make money and afford school, giving her a way out of her life of poverty.

That explanation initially convinced Na to go to Japan, but she changed her mind because of opposition from her parents. After hearing that Na didn’t mean to go after all, her teacher threatened to send her father to Japan in her stead if she refused to go. In the end, Na didn’t tell her family about her plans until the very day she was taken to Japan.

Na went hungry at the Toyama plant and performed back-breaking labor for 12 hours every day cutting iron with a lathe.

She returned to Korea after liberation but did not receive any wages. At that time, around 1,600 Koreans were taken to Fujikoshi and mobilized for forced labor. Fujikoshi Steel Industry, which was a military supply company during World War II, was one of the main companies that mobilized Koreans for forced labor.

Na Hwa-ja (fourth from right) and other victims of forced labor demand compensation and an apology from Fujikoshi outside of the steel company’s headquarters in Toyama, Japan, on April 1, 2003. (courtesy of the Center for Historical Truth and Justice)

Na had previously filed a lawsuit for compensation of damages in 2003 against Fujikoshi at the Toyama District Court in Japan but her claim was dismissed. She then filed another lawsuit in 2013 in a domestic court which was followed by a ruling of the Seoul High Court in January 2019 calling for the offending company, Fujikoshi, to compensate the plaintiffs.

Since then, it has been a continued wait to hear the final ruling from the Supreme Court, which has already taken four years. Na’s bereaved family plans to see the unfinished lawsuit through to the end.

Currently, 14 of the 23 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Fujikoshi (now Nachi-Fujikoshi) have already passed away and nine survivors are awaiting the Supreme Court’s final ruling on the case.

Na’s wake was prepared at the funeral hall of the National Medical Center in central Seoul. The funeral procession is set to take place on Saturday and the burial site will be at the Sian Family Memorial Park in Gyeonggi Province.

By Yoon Yeon-jeong, staff reporter

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