Japanese World War II warship found off South Korea coast

Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A Japanese warship the United States sank more than 70 years ago has been located near the South Korean island of Jeju.

The ship, which sank April 14, 1945, off the coast of Biyangdo, a dot of an island part of the larger province of Jeju, had become a part of modern folklore on the island -- until its recent identification, South Korean news service News 1 reported Friday.

After Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, no official records of the embattled ship remained in government records.

The Jeju provincial government, in collaboration with a civic group, conducted underwater investigations in November, and the location of the 70-meter, 3,900-ton warship was announced Friday, according to News 1.

Two other Japanese warships that reportedly sank with the bigger vessel were not found.

Plans are underway to register the ship as a cultural asset with Seoul's Cultural Heritage Administration.

The ship was previously identified by a South Korean television network in 2015, but public efforts to find the vessel, which had been floating about 900 meters from land, and about 11 meters below the water's surface, were not undertaken until 2017.

The JoongAng Ilbo reported it is believed that of the 664 Japanese crew members on board during a deadly U.S. submarine attack, only 160 survived.

According to stories that have been passed across generations, Jeju residents came to the rescue of Japanese troops who had survived the assault.

Japanese descendants of the crew members continue to visit Jeju regularly for memorials to honor the dead, according to the JoongAng.