Yukiko Okano, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivers tribute
"Difficult labor under harsh conditions"
South Korean government to hold separate memorial amid disagreement over "forced labor"
On September 13, the memorial ceremony for workers at the Sado Mine in Japan was held as a "half-hearted event" without the participation of the South Korean government. The Japanese government representative once again did not mention the forced labor of Koreans in this year's memorial address.
The Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony Executive Committee held the "Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony" at around 1:30 p.m. at the Sado City Aikawa Development Center, located on the western side of Sado Island.
Yukiko Okano, Director for International Cultural Exchange at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended as the representative of the Japanese government. Last year, a vice-ministerial official attended the ceremony as the Japanese government representative, but this year, the position was downgraded to a director-level official.
Director Okano stated, "Among the mine workers, there were many who came from the Korean Peninsula," and added, "Although it was a special situation due to the war, those who came from the Korean Peninsula worked in difficult and dangerous conditions, far from home, thinking of their beloved families."
She continued, "Some were unable to return to their hometowns until the end of the war, and unfortunately, some even passed away here. I sincerely offer my condolences," concluding her address without mentioning the forced nature of Korean labor at the time.
South Korea did not participate for the second consecutive year. Last November, the South Korean government decided not to attend at the last minute, judging that the content of the memorial address and the name of the event were insufficient. This year as well, the government notified earlier this month that it would not participate, expecting that the forced nature of Korean labor would not be sufficiently addressed in the memorial address.
The South Korean government is reportedly planning to hold its own memorial ceremony. Sado Mine, famous as a gold mine during the Edo period (1603-1867), was used for procuring war materials after the outbreak of the Pacific War, with Koreans being forcibly mobilized. It is known that 1,519 Koreans worked at the Sado Mine between 1940 and 1945.
However, Japan has faced criticism for attempting to ignore the history of forced Korean labor by limiting the period covered by the Sado Mine's World Heritage application to the Edo period.
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