Japan to Exhibit History of 'Joseonin Forced Labor'
Foreign Ministry "Promise to Reflect History, Including Practical Measures"
The government has stated that the UNESCO World Heritage listing of Japan's Sado Mine appears highly likely. Sado Mine was a site of forced labor for Joseon people, and the Japanese side has agreed to accept our demand to reflect the 'entire history,' including this fact.
On the 26th, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told reporters, "After a difficult process, a Korea-Japan agreement is finally being reached at the last minute, and unless something unusual happens, it is expected that Sado Mine will be inscribed as a World Heritage site at tomorrow's meeting without a vote contest between Korea and Japan." This indicated that Japan intends to agree to the inscription at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting held on the 27th in New Delhi, India, reflecting Korea's position to 'reflect the entire history of Sado Mine.'
The official explained the background for this policy, saying, "First, Japan promised to reflect the entire history, and second, it has already taken substantive measures for this." He emphasized, "Unlike the 2015 inscription of Hashima Island, this time we did not just receive Japan's promise to implement, but agreed on specific content and secured substantive measures." The Japanese Asahi Shimbun reported on the same day that the Korean and Japanese governments agreed to exhibit the history of Joseon laborers locally in relation to the Sado Mine inscription.
The criterion for World Heritage inscription requires approval by two-thirds or more of the 21 WHC member countries, but by convention, consensus (unanimous decision) is followed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated its position to block consensus if the entire history, including forced labor of Joseon people, is not reflected.
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