[News Spot] Japan's 'Sado Gwangsan' Aiming for World Cultural Heritage Registration

Amid intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic battles between Japan, which seeks to register the 'Sado (佐渡) Mine,' a forced labor site of Koreans during the Japanese colonial period, as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, and the South Korean government opposing it, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), UNESCO's expert advisory body, has recommended a 'refer' status, meaning a deferral of the registration.

Tunnel view inside Sado Mine, Japan. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Sado Mine is Japan's largest gold mine located on Sado Island (Sado-gashima) in the Sea of Japan, Niigata Prefecture. The vein extends 3,000 meters east to west, 600 meters north to south, and 800 meters deep, producing 78 tons of gold and 2,330 tons of silver from the Edo period (1603?1868) until its closure. The Sado Mine, a solid financial source for the Edo Shogunate, was transferred to Mitsubishi Mining in 1918, after which about 1,000 Korean laborers were forcibly mobilized to work there. According to materials disclosed by Professor Teizo Hirose, an emeritus professor at Fukuoka University in Japan, it is estimated that about 2,000 Koreans were subjected to forced labor. From 1942, just after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the mine was mainly used to secure war materials such as copper, iron, and zinc.

The remaining mining tunnels, extraction facilities, and ore processing and smelting facilities on the mine site are designated as important cultural assets and modern industrial heritage. Especially, the development, operation, and production technology system of the mine, spanning about 400 years from the start of development in 1601 until its closure in 1989, are well preserved on site. For this reason, the Japanese government has been preparing since 2010 to register the Sado Mine as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Initially, Japan limited the target period in the Sado Mine World Heritage nomination to the Edo period, fearing that the issue of forced Korean labor would arise. During this period, while mechanization was progressing in mines worldwide, the Sado Mine emphasized its value as one of the world's largest and highest-quality gold producers using traditional manual labor. On the other hand, the South Korean government has consistently maintained that the entire history of the Sado Mine should be fully reflected. ICOMOS also explained in its deferral recommendation, "Considering that the Edo period and subsequent mining development periods spatially overlap, the interpretation and exhibition of mining development cannot be limited to the Edo period alone," and "To ensure a complete understanding of mining development across various periods and their historical context, periods after the Edo era must be included."

The background of ICOMOS's recommendation appears to be influenced by Japan's failure to keep its promise to UNESCO when registering another forced Korean labor site, the Hashima (端島) coal mine, known as 'Gunkanjima,' as a World Cultural Heritage site in 2015. At the time of Gunkanjima's registration, Japan promised to exhibit content acknowledging forced Korean labor against their will and to honor the victims, but it has not implemented this for years. Instead, the exhibition hall opened in 2020 highlighted testimonies denying forced labor.

ICOMOS's recommendations are divided into four stages: 'registration,' 'deferral,' 'refusal,' and 'non-registration.' Deferral requires additional submissions and explanations. If the materials are supplemented, the site can be registered as a World Heritage at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting held that year or the following year. Accordingly, the final registration decision for the Sado Mine is expected to be made at the committee meeting held on the 21st of next month in New Delhi, India. South Korea will also participate as a member country. According to regulations, if two-thirds or more of the 21 member countries, excluding abstentions, agree, the registration decision can be made by vote, but in practice, decisions are usually made unanimously. Last year, all cultural heritages that received deferral recommendations were eventually registered.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.