By Bae Ji-sook
When Yoko Okada, a second generation Korean living in Japan, often known as Zainichi, was diagnosed with asbestosis in 2007, she knew the reason why.
She had undergone examinations and particles of asbestos were found in her lungs. This is also the case for her mother. Her father died in 1995 of the lung disease.
Okada, a nurse, said the cause was simple — both her parents worked at an asbestos factory for a long time and she spent her childhood inside the facility.
“My mother put me in a little basket and kept me near her work stand. That went on years. I am sure that has affected my lungs more than four decades later,” Okada said in a press briefing held by the Asian Ban Asbestos Network at Seoul National University, Tuesday. She was wearing a respirator and coughed often.
In 2008, the Okadas and several others filed a suit against the Japanese government for “not informing people about the possible health threat of the material and encouraging them to work in the mill.”
While Okada’s mother won her case, the daughter lost because she had never actually worked at the factory. She is now engaged in an appeal.
Okada said the government has designated her birthplace Sennan in the far south of Osaka, as a specialized industrial district for asbestos textiles, which resulted in workers at 200 asbestos factories in the region as well as their families and the neighborhood being exposed to the deadly material.
Yuokada Kazuyoshi, a supporter of the victims of the asbestos mills in Sennan, said the reason the truth about the Korean victims remained unspoken though asbestos has been a serious issue in Japan for a long time is due to prejudice and discrimination, even among the victims themselves.
“Based on my research, more than half of the workers were from Korea. They might have been drafted or came over to Japan to escape poverty. Even in the 1940s asbestos production was considered a dirty and hard job and Koreans took over the manufacturing,” he said. “The majority of residents in Sennan knew this and did not speak up because they were Koreans,” he added.
“That’s why my father, whose name was Kang Jae-hee, gave us Japanese names and made us live like the Japanese. But inside the home, I was still Korean,” Okada said.
Alongside Okada was Kana, who lost her husband due to an asbestos-related disease that she herself is suffering from. Matsushima recently won a suit against the government, but the state recently appealed the decision.
She is also a Zainichi. “My mother once asked her father why he came over to Japan to make us all miserable. He then went back to Korea and never returned. That was his answer,” she said bursting into tears.
Asbestos -related illnesses has become a serious problem in Korea, too. The Ministry of Environment last year acknowledged former workers and nearby residents of Hongseong in South Chungcheong Province, where Gwangcheon Mine, the largest asbestos mine in Asia was, suffered from various lung diseases stemming from the asbestos in the area.
About 51 percent of 215 randomly chosen residents were diagnosed with lung and pleura disorders and the health problems were detected not only among the workers but also residents.
Choi Ye-yong, head of the anti-asbestos network, said the stories of Okada and Matsushima are important because there might be more Korean victims of Japanese asbestos mills in Korea.
“According to our research, the Gwangcheon mine was operated by a large Japanese corporation, which still exists in Japan. The workers were forced to work excessively during Japanese Imperialism throughout World War II. If the Zainichi plaintiffs receive proper compensation it could have a bearing on what former Korean miners here could be eligible to also receive,” he said.
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