South Korea to seize assets of collaborators in Japanese colonial period

SEOUL -- The South Korean government announced Wednesday its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by alleged collaborators during Japanese colonial rule.

South Korea will confiscate $3.9 million worth of land from the descendants of nine alleged collaborators who worked for Japan during its 1910-45 colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula, a presidential committee said in a statement...

Proceeds from the sale of the seized assets will be used to provide assistance to independence fighters during the colonial rule and their descendants, as well as in national projects to commemorate the independence movement.

As part of South Korea's efforts to revisit its past history, the committee has been investigating the properties of descendants of 452 alleged collaborators since last July.