Tens of thousands of postal savings accounts opened for Korean laborers forcibly brought to Japan during the war have been discovered in Fukuoka, sources at Japan Post's banking arm revealed Saturday.
Most of the savings were not been returned to the account holders amid the chaotic aftermath of the war, and the Korean laborers were never notified that the accounts still existed.
The account passbooks were found at an entity handling Japan Post Bank Co. savings accounts in the city of Fukuoka. Most of the money in the accounts is believed to be wages paid to laborers shipped from the Korean Peninsula, according to the sources and historians familiar with wartime labor practices.