The survivor: last Korean war criminal in Japan wants recognition

Lee Hak-rae, the last surviving Korean war criminal during World War II, rests on a bed at his room in Tokyo, Japan, June 25, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO (Reuters) - To the casual observer, 95-year-old Lee Hak-rae could be just another elderly person in Japan. Surrounded by pictures of his family and paintings by his great-grandchildren, Lee potters about his cluttered living room on the outskirts of Tokyo.

But Lee is obsessed by brutal events of 75 years ago that have defined his life: his recruitment into the Japanese army from then-occupied Korea in 1942; his role in building the Thai-Burma railway; being designated a World War Two criminal; and how, he says, he was tossed into the dustbin of history by both Japan and South Korea.