UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee decided on Saturday to register the controversial Sado Gold Mine as a cultural heritage site after Japan agreed to include the mine in an exhibit showcasing its dark history of mistreating Korean laborers during World War II.
The decision marks an improvement in relations between Tokyo and Seoul.
The gold mine, located on an island off the coast of Niigata in northern Japan, operated for nearly 400 years and was the world’s largest producer of gold before it closed in 1989. It is also linked to Japan’s mistreatment of Korean laborers during the war.
Committee members, including South Korea, unanimously supported the listing at their annual meeting in New Delhi, India on Saturday. Japan provided additional information, made all necessary revisions to the plan and consulted with South Korea about the mine’s wartime history, the members said.
A Japanese representative said at the meeting that Japan had set up new exhibits “to explain the harsh working conditions (of Korean workers) and commemorate their suffering.”
Japan acknowledged that Koreans were forced to do more dangerous work in the mine tunnels, some of whom died, and that many received small food rations and few holidays.
Japanese officials have announced that a ceremony to commemorate all of the workers at the Sado Island gold mine will be held at the site annually.
Recommendation
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said in a statement she was “deeply pleased” with Sado’s designation and highlighted its “exceptional value as an outstanding cultural heritage site,” but she avoided mentioning its mining history.
The South Korean delegation said it expects Japan to stay true to history and keep its promise to reveal “both the bright and dark sides” of the Sado coal mine to contribute to improving long-term relations.
In Seoul, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry called on Japan to continue to abide by its commitments on land mines and take additional steps to maintain momentum for improving bilateral ties.
Japan had to demonstrate its willingness to confront wartime atrocities to win support from South Korea, which opposed the UNESCO bid because of the mistreatment of Korean laborers during the war. Disputes over that history have always strained ties between the two countries. Seoul says some Koreans brought to Japan during Japan’s colonization of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945 were forced to work in coal mines.
Historians say that with most of Japan’s working-age men sent to war zones in Asia and the Pacific, the country filled the labor shortage by recruiting hundreds of thousands of Koreans, some of whom were forcibly brought from the Korean peninsula, to work in Japan’s mines and factories. Sado was one of them.
The Japanese government has long been criticized for its reluctance to discuss wartime atrocities, including the sexual abuse of Asian women known as “comfort women” and Korean forced laborers.
Japanese authorities have praised the Sado Island mines for their advances in pre- and post-industrial mining techniques but have made no mention of any links to the mistreatment of Korean laborers during World War II.
Japan had initially hoped to have the Sado Island coal mines listed as a World Heritage Site last year, but documents submitted were deemed insufficient and more information was required.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites, which advises the UNESCO committee, asked Japan in June to provide more details about the Sado mine, but the information requested was mostly about technical details, and the committee recommended reflecting the mine’s full history.
Another controversial Japanese site was recognized by UNESCO in 2015. Gunkanjima, a former coal mine in Nagasaki Prefecture, was recognized as an important site in Japan’s Meiji era industrial revolution. South Korea protested the lack of mention of the Korean people who suffered on the island, leading UNESCO to decide to ask Japan to present a more balanced history.
