A Chinese specialist has unearthed the names of 318 victims of Unit 731, a Japanese squad that performed grisly human experiments including vivisection of people deliberately infected with deadly diseases in occupied China during World War II. The butchers kept methodical records of their atrocities that reveal the names, ages and place of birth of the victims, who include four Koreans.
Jin Chengmin, an expert on Unit 731 from the Harbin Academy of Social Sciences, discovered the details in Japanese military documents kept at Central Archives and the archives of Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, Chinese media reported Tuesday.
The four Koreans were Lee Gi-su, 28, from Shinheung, North Hamgyeong Province, Han Seong-jin, 30, from Gyeongseong, North Hamgyeong Province, Kim Seong-seo from Gilju, North Hamgyeong Province and Ko Chang-nyul, 42, from Hoeyang, Gangwon Province. When and where they were arrested was also noted. Chinese media published a photo of Lee Gi-su alongside the original instructions by a Japanese military policeman.
The Heilongjiang Province news site Northeast.cn said the documents Jin obtained, dispatched with the signature of the commander of military police with Japan’s Kwantung Army, were marked "special transfer" and "top secret." Jin said "special transfer" was code for the use of human subjects in germ warfare experiments.
In total 1,463 individuals were sent to Unit 731 by Kwantung Army military police, mostly Chinese, Korean, Soviet and Mongolian underground agents, soldiers with the Chinese Communist Eighth Route Army or anti-Japanese fighters. Northeast.cn said after Kwantung Army MPs arrested them, they were categorized as "highly anti-Japanese individuals," "likely repeat offenders" and "useless individuals" and deported to Unit 731 as subjects for experiments. Jin said Unit 731's human experiments were based on Special Transfer Order No. 58 of Jan. 26, 1938 by Kwantung Army Command and was the Japanese military's most closely guarded secret.
