A professor said Wednesday that the country should retrieve noses which were cut off from Korean troops during the invasion of Korea from 1592 to 1598 by Japan’s Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Professor Sung Ki-jung of Kyungil University in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, said he will make the demand when he delivers a keynote speech in a seminar at Yeungnam University Thursday. At the seminar, scholars will discuss “Measures for the tombs of Korean noses in Japan" and "Globalization and nationalism in Northeast Asia.”

Hideyoshi (1536-1598) built tombs of noses cut from troops of Korea’s Joseon Kingdom during the invasion as part of efforts to demonstrate his distinguished service in war.

The Japanese have insisted that the tombs were built to console the souls of Koreans killed during the invasion, Sung said.

Moreover, Japan has taken advantage of the tombs in Kyoto to convey the accomplishments it made during the invasion to descendents, and registered them as a provincial cultural asset to attract tourists, he said.

This is an act that hurts the pride and dignity of the Korean people, Sung said.

He pointed out that the tombs are located beside a shrine for Hideyoshi.

The professor criticized the Korean government for taking no step to retrieve the remains of deceased Koreans.