Russia on Thursday handed over to Japan newly found files on about 27,000 invalids among Japanese prisoners held at Siberian internment camps after World War II, Japanese diplomats said.
The files, found at the Russian State Military History Archive in Moscow, include the names of Japanese prisoners who were deemed unfit for labor because of malnutrition, illness or injuries. They were sent to internment camps in North Korea.
The names of the prisoners are handwritten in Russian on A-4-size paper with their date of birth, the diplomats said.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will examine the new files to determine if there is any duplication of previous files.
Of about 575,000 Japanese prisoners held in Siberia, about 43,000 of them are believed to have been sent to camps in Manchuria and North Korea.
Japan and Russia signed a pact in 1992 on the collection of files on the Japanese prisoners.