Japanese war criminal confesses to using chemical weapons

Burning down villages, enslaving Chinese laborers and using chemical weapons -- that's what war criminal Kenjiro Funaki confessed to doing as part of Japan's aggression toward China.

According to a publication released by China's State Archives Administration on Tuesday, the war criminal went to northeast China in December 1937 and served as major and battalion commander of the 4th Frontier-Guard Infantry.

The war criminal became colonel and commander of the 375th Regiment of the 137th Division in June 1945 and was captured by the Soviet Army on August 15 of that year.

"There were several cases when my battalion was instructed by the division commander to destroy the villages," said the written confession.

He also said that in 1942, "our battalion was not issued the poison gas, but was issued the red-colored canisters. A Battalion Armament Department office told me that the red-colored canisters were categorized as poison gas weapons."

The confession also includes "enslaving local residents."

The release includes scans of the original manuscript in Japanese, with Chinese and English translations.

The State Archives Administration on Thursday last week began releasing full texts of confessions by 45 Japanese war criminals. One will be released online daily.

The move follows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's and right-wing politicians' stubborn denial of war crimes in China.

Some 1,109 Japanese war criminals were held in custody in China between 1950 and 1956, according to the administration. Among them, 1,017 with minor offenses were exempted from prosecution and released in 1956, and 45 received military trials under the Supreme People's Court that year.

The administration said it is sorting archives of confessions made by those 1,017 with minor offenses to make them public as well.