Japanese government refers only to 'arduous labor' in memorial address; South Korea skips ceremony again over unresolved dispute

A memorial ceremony for the Sado Island gold mine is held at the Aikawa Development General Center in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on Sept. 13 last year. [Yonhap]
A memorial ceremony for the Sado Island gold mine is held at the Aikawa Development General Center in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on Sept. 13 last year. [Yonhap]

Japan held a memorial ceremony Saturday near the Sado Island gold mine in Niigata Prefecture — a site where Koreans were subjected to forced labor during Japan's colonial rule — without making any reference to that forced labor for the third consecutive year.

Hamamotto Yukiya, a director-general-level official at Japan's Foreign Ministry responsible for international cultural exchange, represented the Japanese government at the ceremony held at a community center in Sado. In his address, he said workers from the Korean Peninsula "engaged in arduous labor in the dangerous and harsh environment of the mine shafts during the war," according to Yonhap, citing Kyodo News.

He added that "regrettably, some lost their lives here" and expressed condolences, but his remarks largely mirrored those from the previous two years and contained no mention of the coercive nature of the labor.

The ceremony was organized by an executive committee comprising Niigata Prefecture, the city of Sado and local civic groups. About 70 people attended, offering chrysanthemums and observing a moment of silence for the victims.

Since the first ceremony in 2024, held after the Sado mine's inscription as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, Japan has declined to acknowledge the forced nature of Korean labor at the mine for three consecutive years.

The ceremony was a commitment Japan made to secure South Korea's cooperation during its push to have the Sado mine inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2024, after South Korea demanded that the full history of the site — including the forced mobilization of Koreans — be reflected.

South Korea's government announced Wednesday that it would again boycott the Japanese-organized ceremony, saying it had "engaged in sincere consultations with the Japanese side to ensure this year's memorial could be held in full, but was unable to reach mutual agreement on the key issues."

South Korea has held its own separate annual memorial for victims of the Sado mine since Japan and South Korea showed sharp differences over the event's name, the content of memorial addresses and the characterization of forced labor from the very first ceremony in 2024.

In announcing its boycott, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it "takes note of the relevant decision of the 48th World Heritage Committee session and urges Japan to faithfully and fully implement the recommendations contained in that decision."

Sado Mayor Watanabe Ryugo said at the ceremony that "it would have been best if the South Korean side had attended. I hope this can become an event where everyone connected to the gold mine can mourn together."

The Sado mine was renowned as a gold mine during the Edo period (1603–1867) and was later used to extract wartime materials as the Pacific War intensified. During that period, Koreans from the colonized peninsula were forcibly mobilized and worked under harsh conditions amid discrimination.

The mine was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site at the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee, held in New Delhi, India, in July 2024.

Ahead of the inscription, South Korea demanded that Japan reflect the "full history" of the Sado mine, including the forced mobilization of Koreans, and Japan agreed. Criticism has since mounted, however, that Japan has not adequately represented the facts of the forced labor.

A decision adopted at the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session held in Busan in July found that Japan had made "some progress" in implementing the committee's recommendation to develop an interpretation and exhibition strategy reflecting the "full history" of the Sado mine, but assessed that progress as insufficient.


dandy@heraldcorp.com