Archives: Japanese war criminal's confession of murder

Japanese World War II officer Hisajiro Tai's written confession, published on Friday, reveals the murder of about 600 Chinese.

According to the original document, available on the State Archives Administration (SAA) website, the Japanese army killed about 500 Chinese soldiers and members of anti-Japanese armed forces from January to April in 1944.

Tai recalled killing about 100 Chinese civilians during the same period when he served in the Police Department in Rehe Province. Also in the four months, Japanese search teams arrested about 4,000 Chinese in the province. From November 1942 to March 1943, the officer arrested, detained and interrogated 15 Chinese civilians every month while he was in office in Baicheng County, Longjiang Province.

Tai's other posts included chief of Secret Service Division of Police Department and chief of Police Office in Qiqihar, in Longjiang Province of the "Manchukuo" puppet state in April, 1944.

This is the latest of 45 Japanese war criminal confessions the SAA plans to publish. The SAA has been issuing one a day since July 3.

The move follows denials of war crimes by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and right-wing politicians.