Seoul urges Japan to honor forced labor pledge at UNESCO meeting

Ambassador Kim Ji-hee, South Korea's permanent delegate to UNESCO, attends a plenary session of the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee at BEXCO in Busan on Thursday. [Yonhap]

South Korea again pressed Japan at a UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting to properly convey the history of Korean forced labor at the Sado gold mine and the Meiji Industrial Revolution sites. Seoul formally called out Japan's failure to fulfill the "full history" pledge it made when the sites were inscribed.

Ambassador Kim Ji-hee, South Korea's permanent delegate to UNESCO, said at the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Busan on Tuesday that "we urge Japan to comply with the committee's decisions and keep the promises it made itself."

Seoul has maintained that Japan has not adequately communicated the history of forced labor at the sites, contrary to commitments made at the time of inscription, and has sought improvements through bilateral consultations and the World Heritage Committee.

The committee had earlier found some progress in implementing an interpretation and exhibition strategy reflecting the "full history" of the Sado mine, but assessed that progress as insufficient, adopting a decision to that effect on Thursday. South Korea considers "full history" to encompass the forced labor of Koreans during the Japanese colonial period.

"It is deeply regrettable that, even after a decade, implementation remains insufficient and continues to raise concerns," Kim said.

Ambassador Kim Ji-hee, South Korea's permanent delegate to UNESCO, speaks at a plenary session of the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee at BEXCO in Busan on Thursday. [Yonhap]

Japan inscribed 23 facilities, including Hashima — also known as Gunkanjima, or Battleship Island — with a pledge to reflect the full history of the sites, and established the Industrial Heritage Information Center in Tokyo to present exhibitions on Gunkanjima. Since the center opened in 2020, it has drawn criticism for failing to adequately address the history of forced labor.

Japan said Tuesday that it had complied with the committee's recommendations, but offered no concrete plan to improve the specific exhibitions and historical explanations on forced labor that Seoul has demanded.

Kano Takehiro, Japan's ambassador to UNESCO, said Japan "has sincerely responded to previous decisions and continues to engage in genuine dialogue with the relevant states parties."

terry@heraldcorp.com