The Japanese government reaffirmed that local police are expected to appropriately handle identification of what are suspected to be human remains found at the site of the Chosei underwater coal mine accident in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture in cooperation with related ministries.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is gathering information regarding the matter from experts.

Hayashi, however, said the ministry has yet to obtain a new point of view that may assist in an underwater probe with a guarantee of safety.

While a local civic group that first discovered the remains have sought government support for its excavation survey since last September, Tokyo said it would be difficult to provide assistance due to uncertainties regarding the location of burial and lack of guaranteed safety.

Should the remains found earlier this week be confirmed as human bones, it would be 83 years after the mine inundation that killed 136 Koreans who were forced into labor by the Japanese military during Japan's colonial rule of Korea, as well as 47 Japanese people.