Korea-Japan 'Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony' to be Held Locally on 24th... Bereaved Families of Forced Labor Victims to Attend

An event will be held to commemorate Korean and other laborers who were forced to work at the Sado Mine in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, during the Japanese colonial period.

On the 20th, the Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony Executive Committee in Japan announced that the 'Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony' will be held on the 24th at the Aikawa Development Comprehensive Center on the west side of Sado Island.

Yonhap News

On the Japanese side, members of the executive committee, local government officials, representatives from civic groups, and central government officials will attend the memorial ceremony, while in Korea, bereaved families of forced labor victims and government officials will participate.

However, it has not yet been announced who from the Japanese central government will attend. In Korea, officials at the level of vice minister or higher have hoped to participate in the ceremony.

The memorial ceremony, attended by officials from both Korea and Japan, is being held for the first time as a follow-up measure promised by Japan through an agreement with Korea when the Sado Mine was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July.

At that time, the Japanese government stated, "A memorial event for all workers at the Sado Mine will be held annually on site." Previously, memorial ceremonies hosted by Japanese civic groups were known to be small-scale, with about ten attendees.

The Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony was initially expected to be held around September, but was postponed to late this month due to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership election and the House of Representatives election in Japan.

Regarding this, local media in Niigata Prefecture reported the memorial ceremony schedule at the end of last month, but no official announcement was made until just before the scheduled date of the 24th, leading to speculation that Korea and Japan were in conflict over the event’s name and attendees.

It was even reported that, at the last minute, the Japanese government insisted that the term "gratitude" be included in the ceremony’s name, but the Korean government opposed this, and the official event name was decided as the 'Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony.'

Previously, Japan faced criticism for attempting to limit the heritage period of the Sado Mine’s World Heritage registration to the Edo period, mainly the 16th to mid-19th centuries, thereby ignoring the history of forced Korean labor.

In response, the Korean government repeatedly demanded that the "entire history" be reflected, and Japan agreed to install exhibits related to Korean laborers and hold a memorial ceremony.