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A Japanese delegation arrived last week in the Primorye city of Arseniev to search for remains of compatriots, the city’s news service reported.

The delegation includes 13 officials of the Japanese Health Ministry, relatives of Japanese soldiers who were buried in the Primorye region, and university students.

On September 28 they met with Arseniev administration officials to express gratitude for assistance in repatriation of the remains of Japanese soldiers.

During the current visit the Japanese delegation got permission to conduct works to exhume the remains buried near Chernyakhovsky Street in Arseniev. The works are to be finished Wednesday.

According to local historians, there were three camps of Japanese prisoners of war in the city. A delegation of the Japanese Health Ministry did preliminary work this year and found several burial sites.

Primorye is one of 30 regions of the former Soviet Union, where about 75,000 Japanese prisoners of war were held in camps. Over 6,700 died and were buried in the region.

The remains of 1,578 of them were recovered and sent to the homeland in 1992-2007. Identities of three of them have been established.

The remains of all Japanese prisoners of war from a cemetery in the city of Nakhodka have been repatriated. A memorial sign has been installed at the cemetery.


From http://www.arsenevmis.ru and Itar-Tass news agency