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An international conference on "Sharing the Lessons and Memories of Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army" was held at the NAHF Grand Conference Hall on October 14, 2014. The objectives of this event were to learn lessons from the horrors of Unit 731 and to share memories of that brutality and pass them down to future generations.

In Korea, the phrase 'Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army' is often associated with the word 'Maruta,' but nothing specific about it is known. Chinese scholars estimate that Unit 731 and other Japanese biological warfare units killed over 10,000 Chinese and Koreans in medical experiments during World War II. Of these victims, about 200 Koreans are thought to have been killed as 'Maruta.' But there are only six Korean victims whose identity has been confirmed.

In January 2014, the Jilin Provincial Archives of China released many Unit 731-related documents found during a review of the 10,000 or so documents of Japan's Kwantung Army discovered in a construction site from the 1950s in the city of Changchun. From the analysis of the up to 500 documents, they learned that at least 372 Chinese, Koreans, and Russians had been sent to Unit 731 through a 'special transfer' and subjected to medical experiments and other measures necessary to develop biological weapons.

Recently, China has continued to reveal evidence that proves the atrocities committed in the past by Imperial Japan, urging Japan to make an apology. To expose the atrocities of imperialism, China has decided to make a five-part documentary on Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army. China has also made the plans to create the '731 War Site Park' through the extension of the exhibition hall in Harbin and the renovation of the Unit 731 site, and include the Park to the World Heritage List. Recently, the Chinese government has decided to elevate the Unit 731 site to the status of a Class 4A tourist attraction.

But conducting activities and building facilities to share and carry on memories are likely to involve emotion and embody certain political messages. Accordingly, this conference was intended to find the direction of sharing and carrying on memories for true historical reconciliation.

Specific Action Plans for the Relief of Damage Caused by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army

This international conference consisted of two sessions: 'Responsibilities and Lessons,' and 'Sharing and Carrying on Memories.' AZAMI Shozo (莇昭三), honorary secretary-general of Research Society for 15 Years War and Japanese Medical Science and Service, accused the U.S., Japan, the Japan Medical Association (JMA) and the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences (JAMC), in writing, of concealing the reality of Unit 731. The U.S. let the Unit 731 authorities go unpunished instead of file charges against them as war criminals, he explained, and the Japanese government is also trying to evade responsibility. As a doctor himself, he added, he feels strongly responsible for the fact that neither the JMA nor the JAMC is holding the Unit 731 authorities responsible for their war crimes.

In his presentation on 'The Unit 731 Damage Suit and its Challenges,' he gave an analysis of the 2007 Japanese Supreme Court's decision that the question of state responsibility under international law had been settled by the conclusion of the Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China, in which the Chinese government renounced its demand for war reparation from Japan, and of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China. I went over the post-war compensation suits filed by Korea and China having noticed the decision with regard to demage relief that it was "a matter for the parliament to resolve by using discretion," and explored their chances.

Jin Chungmin (金成民), Director of the Unit 731 Criminal Evidence Museum, said that now that the Unit 731 site had been officially included in China's preliminary list of application for the World Heritage List, Harbin should be created as the Castle for Peace in Northeast Asia as a specific action plan to 'take history to heart, remember the past, love peace, and open the future' thereby contributing to peace in Northeast Asia.

Calling for Reflection on the War of Aggression through Memories of Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army

The idea of glorifying war still persists, lamented Nasu Shigeo (奈須重雄), Director of the NPO Unit 731/Biological Warfare Data Center, because there are not as many people who know about Unit 731 as there were in 1993 when the Unit 731 Exhibition was held across Japan attracting many visitors. In other words, since Unit 731 was exempt from its responsibility for war crime, the Japanese people had lost an opportunity to reflect on the wartime medical crimes. If Japan is to fulfill its responsibilities for the victims of Unit 731, he argued, the Japanese politicians and citizens will have to change their thought about war responsibility, perception of history, and sense of human rights.

Yang Yanjun (楊彦君), Head of the International Research Center for Unit 731 Issues at the Harbin Academy of Social Sciences, said that the purpose of making the crimes of Unit 731 widely known was to reveal the war crimes committed by Japan, including biological warfare and experiments on the human body, and alarm and educate people to love peace, oppose aggression, and reflect on war.

It is a shame, said Jung Il-seong, a former Deputy Managing Editor at The Seoul Shinmun, that relatively so little research has been done regarding Unit 731 in Korea compared to Japan or China that the Korean people aren't even aware of it. And it is the Korean academia's challenge, he stressed, to find out how many Koreans were killed as 'Maruta' and where was the toxic biological agents test site where Unit 731's first outdoor experiment was conducted.

In Japan today, there is an increase in cases where advocates for the revisionist view of history are manipulating collective memory in an effort to propagate the 'people's history' with the 'proud past.' They make it forgotten that Japan committed horrible atrocities in the wars and colonial rule, such as military sexual slavery, the Nanjing Massacre, and Unit 731's vivisections. In fact, the power of the politicians who try to block the memories of human rights violation in the past is hindering apology and damage relief. They must not forget that memory, by its nature, tends to reconstruct the past with the logic of the present and thereby grant future-oriented behaviors.