Part 1 - Thousands of young Korean men were recruited to guard Allied POWs, and guards were told to teach the POWs to "recognize the superiority of the Japanese people and to make them respect the Japanese Empire from the bottom of their hearts"

 

Notes: Some 3000 young Korean men were recruited by Imperial Japan as civilians to work as civilians to guard Allied POWs in Southeast Asia. The prisoners were mostly forced to build airstrips and railways for the Imperial Japanese military. These included the 415-km Thai-Burma railway, which was made famous with the movie "The Bridges on the River Kwai". One of the more notable Korean guards working on the Thai-Burma railway was Lee Hak-rae, the last surviving Korean Class-B/Class-C war criminal from World War II who died in Japan last year in March 2021. 

One term that was hard to translate into English in this article was gunzoku (軍属), which I translated as "civilian members of the military", but this classification refers to the lowest ranking civilian employees in the service of the Imperial Japanese military. So, the status of the ethnic Korean prison guards was quite low in the Imperial Japanese military hierarchy. A lot of former prison guards argued this fact before the war crimes tribunals with varying degrees of success.

This Asia-Pacific Journal article is a good overview of Lee Hak-rae's story.

(Translation)

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) May 23, 1942

Direct cooperation in the Greater East Asia War
Thousands of young Korean men are recruited to monitor American and British prisoners of war
The pride of the Imperial People is getting higher and higher

The government has decided to enact a soldier conscription system for our Korean compatriots and allow them to be recruited as soldiers starting in 1944, giving them an epoch-making honor in the governance of the peninsula. This time, it has been decided to send even more talented young Korean men to serve as civilian members of the military. Due to the brilliant results of the Imperial military in the Greater East Asia War, they have been assigned to monitor the American and British prisoners of war being held in various locations. At the same time, it has been decided to bestow upon them the great mission of making these arrogant and insolent people realize the superiority of the Japanese people. On the 22nd, the Intelligence Division of the Governor-General's Office announced the following:

Announcement by the Intelligence Division

At the request of the Army, several thousand young Korean men of merit will be recruited as civilian members of the military in order to monitor the American and British prisoners of war who are being held in various location as a result of our brilliant war accomplishments in the Greater East Asia War. In the meantime, large numbers of young Korean men have been recruited to work on urgent government projects in accordance with the National Conscription Order. It is not only a great honor for the young Korean men to have been assigned such honorable duties, but it is also a great honor for Korea to have had their qualities as Imperial subjects be recognized as sufficient to assume such honorable duties.

The duties of those recruited are not only to watch over the American and British prisoners of war, but also to teach them to recognize the superiority of the Japanese people and to make them respect the Japanese Empire from the bottom of their hearts. Since this mission is a serious one, the young Korean men who are selected to serve in such an important mission assume a great responsibility, which has an extremely deep significance in light of the current decision to adopt the policy of enforcing the soldier conscription system in Korea. 

The applicants will be carefully selected by the provincial governments and related county governments south of Hwanghae Province and Gangwon Province, and those who are selected will be trained for about two months in the military and then mostly transferred to the field (partly in Korea), where they will be treated with great care and preferential treatment.

Those of you who have been recruited are requested to bear in mind the spirit of the above, and to make every effort to do your best, so that you may truly become subjects of the Imperial State, and thereby perform a splendid job of manifesting the majesty of our Empire as the leader of East Asia.

We hope that the general public will be as sincere to those who have done this honor as they would be to a soldier, and that they will cooperate in the completion of their duties without fear of regret.

Source: http://www.archive.org/details/kjnp-1942-05-23

Reddit Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/sbhogc/thousands_of_young_korean_men_were_recruited/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

(Transcription)

京城日報　1942年5月23日

大東亜戦に直接協力
米英人俘虜の監視に半島青年数千名採用
皇国民の誇り、愈よ高し

政府はさきに半島同胞に対し徴兵制を施行し、昭和十九年度からこれを徴集し得る如く決定、半島統治上画期的な栄誉を付与したが、今回更に多数の有為なる半島青年を軍属として現地に派遣し、大東亜戦争における皇軍の赫々たる戦果により各地に収容中の米英人俘虜の監視に当らせると同時に傲慢不遜なる彼等に日本国民の優秀性を認識せしめる大いなる使命を負荷することに決定。二十二日総督府情報課から次の如く発表された。

情報課発表

今般陸軍の要求に基づき大東亜戦争に於ける赫々たる戦果に依り各地に収容中の米英人俘虜の監視に従事せしむるため、半島に於ける有為なる青年数千人を軍属として採用せらるることとなった。裏には国民徴用令の発動に依り多数の青年が徴用せられて喫緊な政府の事業に従事し、今回又斯かる名誉ある職務を負荷さるるに至ったことは独り半島に於ける青年の光栄であるばかりでなく、斯くの如き光栄ある責務を担うに足る皇国臣民としての資質が其の有るがままに認めらるるに至った結果として朝鮮の大なる栄誉である。

採用せられた者の任務は単に米英人俘虜を監視するのみでなく、傲慢不遜の彼等に真に日本国民の優秀性を認識せしめて衷心より日本帝国に対する尊敬の念を抱かしむるよう指導するに在るのであって、其の使命は重く斯かる重要な任務に半島に於ける青年が選ばれて従事することは、其の責務弥々重大であると共に朝鮮に徴兵制度を施行する方針の決定せられた今日、其の意義極めて深きものがある。

応募者に対して黄海、江原以南の各道庁及び関係府郡庁に於いて慎重選考し、採用せられた者に対しては軍に於いて約二ヶ月間訓練を施した上、主として現地（一部は鮮内）に赴任することになるのであるが、其の処遇についても軍に於いて充分なる注意を払い、種々優遇の途を講ぜられるのである。

採用せられた者はよく叙上の精神の存する所を肝に銘じ愈よ精神努力して真に皇国臣民たるの実を挙げ以て東亜の盟主たる我が帝国の威容を顕現する立派な働きをなしとげられたい。

なお一般国民は斯かる名誉を担った者に対し兵士に対すると同様な誠意を以て後願の憂なからしめ其の責務の完遂に協力せられんことを希望する次第である。