Stop NHK from Spreading Unverified Gunkanjima Labor Videos

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There has been an important breakthrough in the controversy surrounding Greenless Island, a program telecast by public broadcaster NHK seven decades ago. The documentary looked at operations at the Hashima coal mine in Nagasaki Prefecture known as Gunkanjima or "Battleship Island." Some South Korean media used footage from that program to spread falsehoods alleging Korean workers were forced to work there under appalling conditions during World War II.

Recently, NHK admitted it could not confirm whether the dubious footage used in the documentary was filmed on Gunkanjima. The revelation was made in a Summary Court arbitration session with former islanders. In other words, NHK broadcast the program without substantiating the facts. It is hard to believe that it could have happened.

Former island residents subsequently held a press conference, calling on NHK to produce a program to investigate what really happened. They claimed that they had been "falsely stigmatized." We agree. Furthermore, NHK should investigate how the footage in question was misused for anti-Japan propaganda and restore the honor of Japan and the former islanders.

A South Korean TV program used footage from the NHK documentary Midori Naki Shima ("Green Island") purporting to show workers crawling in a coal mine it falsely claims is Gunkanjima. The South Korean program charged that Korean workers were treated inhumanely during the war.

A Succession of Falsehoods

Green Island is a short film produced by NHK back in 1955. It included scenes purportedly filmed inside the coal mines of Gunkanjima. Some of its scenes showed workers clad in loincloths crawling through narrow tunnels and transporting coal by hand.

NHK provided footage from the documentary to South Korean media in 2010. Then, South Korean entities began telecasting programs with sensationalistic titles, such as Hell Island: Gunkanjima in Korea. The film was even used at the National Memorial Museum of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Occupation in Busan. Curators used it to suggest that individuals from the Korean Peninsula were treated inhumanely in Japan.

Meanwhile, former island residents protested to NHK that the footage was not taken within the Hashima mines and demanded a retraction. NHK, however, did not address their demands. Nevertheless, in 2021, it compiled an investigative report that said it "did not conclude that the footage was anything other than from the Hashima coal mine."

Former Gunkanjima residents testify that the footage shown on the NHK program "Greenless Island" is not from the Hashima coal mine. December 13, 2022, in the National Diet (©Sankei by Shinpei Okuhara)

NHK's Weak 'Regret'

As a result, a group of former island residents filed for court arbitration. Those sessions concluded in December 2024. In the settlement, NHK finally admitted that in scenes where workers are not wearing headlamps and certain other scenes, "We have not been able to confirm that the footage was taken inside the Hashima coal mine."

Nonetheless, although NHK expressed "strong regret" during the mediation, it has not agreed to correct the unsubstantiated content. When interviewed by The Sankei Shimbun, an NHK representative commented that the contents of the mediation "were no different" from its own 2021 investigation report.

However, these two positions are in flagrant contradiction.

A World Industrial Heritage Site

Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining, encompassing nearly two dozen separate sites including Gunkanjima, was registered as a World Heritage Site in 2015. At the time, South Korea strongly opposed the move. It claimed that forced labor had been employed at some of the sites.

It is NHK's responsibility to dispel false information caused by the misleading programs it produces. We urge the National Diet to get to the bottom of this problem.

Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun

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