Overview
- A Japan-backed preliminary excavation opened Monday in Hengchun, Pingtung, with about 10 Japanese and local personnel conducting surveys scheduled to continue through July 31.
- The work is led by the Japan Association for Recovery and Repatriation of War Casualties under commission from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and will subject any recovered remains to DNA analysis and other forensic tests.
- Local historians and activists link the search site to a 1944 Allied attack in the Bashi Channel that sank transport ships and left many bodies washed ashore, and the last government-backed dig in Taiwan took place in 1975 when 242 sets of remains were recovered.
- Tokyo records estimate roughly 41,900 Japanese died in Taiwan during World War II with about 15,600 sets of remains still missing, and recovery efforts were curtailed for decades after Japan switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1972.
- Religious groups, local residents and bereaved families have driven archival work and interviews that located likely burial spots, and successful identifications could bring long-awaited closure and prompt follow-up missions to return remains to relatives.