Government Urges Strict Suspension of Japan's Decision to Pursue Sado Mine as World Heritage Site

The appearance of the tunnels built since the Meiji era at Aikawa and Kineosan, representing the Sado Mine. The Sado Mine Management Company has exhibited the ore transportation means used in these tunnels.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The government has stated, regarding Japan's decision on the 28th to recommend Sado Mine, a site of forced labor of Koreans during the Japanese colonial period, for UNESCO World Heritage status, that it "strongly urges the cessation of such attempts."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed in a spokesperson's statement on the same day, "Despite our repeated warnings, we deeply regret the Japanese government's decision to proceed with the registration of Sado Mine, a site of forced labor of Koreans during World War II, as a UNESCO World Heritage site."

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the recommendation policy in the evening at the Prime Minister's Official Residence, stating to reporters regarding the UNESCO World Heritage recommendation of Sado Mine, "We have reached the conclusion that applying this year and starting discussions early is the shortcut to realizing the registration."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also recalled that Japan failed to fulfill its promise to explain the forced labor of Koreans at Japanese modern industrial sites such as Hashima (commonly known as 'Gunkanjima'), which led the World Heritage Committee to express serious regret in July last year.

Other Japanese modern industrial sites, which were also sites of forced labor of Koreans, were registered as World Heritage in 2015, and at that time, Japan promised the international community to disclose the facts of forced labor of Koreans.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized again that "the Japanese government must faithfully implement the follow-up measures it promised at the time of the 2015 World Heritage registration as a prerequisite."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated again in the evening at the Prime Minister's Official Residence regarding the UNESCO World Heritage recommendation of Sado Mine, "We have reached the conclusion that applying this year and starting discussions early is the shortcut to realizing the registration."

The Japanese government will hold a Cabinet meeting, equivalent to our State Council, on the deadline for recommendation, next month on the 1st, and after approval procedures, will send the recommendation letter for the registration of Sado Mine as a World Heritage site to UNESCO.

Going forward, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), UNESCO's advisory body, will conduct a review including on-site investigations over about a year and a half, and will decide on the registration of Sado Mine around June to July next year.