Kazakstan Ambassador to Japan Tleukhan Kabdrakhmanov submitted to Japan on Friday a list of the names of 2,585 Japanese people who were detained in Kazakstan after World War II, health ministry officials said.
It is the second time Kazakstan has handed over such a list to Japan since 1994, the officials said. Kabdrakhmanov gave the list to Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi during a visit to the ministry.
The officials said they will make public through prefectural governments the names of the deceased on the list.
Sakaguchi expressed his gratitude and said he would inform the relatives of the deceased as soon as possible, according to the officials.
The handing over of the list is a symbol of the friendship between the two countries, Kabdrakhmanov reportedly said.
The list gives the names of Japanese detainees and their places of detention. while the deceased are identified by the date and cause of their death, they said.
Some 53,000 Japanese are believed to have died while being detained in parts of the former Soviet Union. From the two lists presented so far, the number totals about 40,000 people, of whom some 26,000 have been identified.