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than 23,000 victims were forced to mobilize outside the country during the Japanese colonial rule and were unable to return. The bereaved family wants to bring their remains, but genetic testing has been sluggish, and even those who have already been identified are unable to return to their home country due to the corona situation.

Reporter Im Sang-beom covered it.

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[SBS 8 News on December 29th of last year: During the Pacific War, it was finally confirmed that one of the Koreans who were forcibly taken to a remote island was paternalized with a domestic bereaved family.] After

genetic identification, it was the only South Pacific conscripted victims. The late Choi Byung-yeon, whose identity was confirmed.

The remains, which were called Tarawa 46 and regained their name, were scheduled for repatriation in Korea in the first half of this year, but have not been returned to the family until now.

This is because the Republic of Kiribati, which is storing the remains, did not allow outsiders to enter the country due to the coronavirus outbreak.

[Choi Geum-soo/Later Choi Byung-yeon's second son: It hurts beyond words. We were going to serve in Seonsan. You don't know when it will end, so you get a fever.] There

are 23,000 victims of forced mobilization who lost their lives outside the country and were unable to find the remains.

Currently, there are about 2,000 remains unearthed or on the verge of excavation. In order to select and repatriate Korean victims, genetic control tests of the remains and their families are essential.

This is the starting point of the repatriation of the remains, but the number of survivors waiting is 3,000, but only 365 people have been examined in the past three years.

It has stopped at all after entering this year.

[Ministry of Public Administration and Security Hazardous Bong-Hwan Department: It is a situation that the public health center cannot do due to corona. (This year) there is no record yet.]

Most of the elderly survivors are in an urgent situation.

[Yunjae Lee/Bereaved of the victims of forced mobilization: I have to touch the bone once and this is my father. I think that my heart will be relieved, so do a genetic test. That's what you want.] As the

budget is allocated as much as 500 million won, it is pointed out that the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, which is responsible for repatriation, should be more active, such as entrusting it to private research institutes.

(Video coverage: Ilsang Han, video editing: Junhee Kim)