Photo/Illutration Part of the Aikawa Gold and Silver Mine complex in Sado, Niigata Prefecture (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Japan has agreed to acknowledge the history of wartime Korean labor at the Sado gold and silver mine in Niigata Prefecture as part of its efforts to gain UNESCO World Cultural Heritage listing for the site.

South Korea had bitterly criticized Japan for not owning up to its past over the wartime use of Korean labor under brutal conditions.

Seoul is now satisfied that Tokyo is taking appropriate steps to explain the history of the site, according to multiple officials from both Japan and South Korea.

When it meets with the World Heritage Committee, which will decide on registration, the Japanese government intends to show that these workers played a major role in the mine operations, officials said.

The committee has been meeting in India since July 21.

In June, UNESCO notified Japan of the “referral” recommendation--the second-highest recommendation for a World Heritage candidate after “inscription”--for the mine complex.

UNESCO called on Japan to remove areas that were largely developed during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) and onward from the proposed Sado Island Gold Mines site, which was one of the world’s leading gold production centers in the 17th century.

Additionally, it requested that explanations and exhibits covering the mines’ entire history, including the Meiji Era and onward, be provided.

During World War II, thousands of laborers from the Korean Peninsula, then under Japanese rule, were mobilized to work in the mines on Sado Island.

The South Korean government insists it was a site of “forced labor.”

Gaining the understanding of South Korea, a member country of the committee, was a significant challenge, as the committee conventionally makes registration decisions by unanimous agreement.

Following UNESCO’s recommendation in June, the governments of Japan and South Korea began behind-the-scenes negotiations, taking into account the potential for a backlash in their respective public opinion.

Relations between the two countries began to mend with the inauguration of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration two years ago.

The Japanese government agreed to meet some of South Korea’s demands by introducing the presence of Korean workers in exhibits at the site and to express this stance at the World Heritage Committee.

However, the two governments are still jostling over the term “forced labor” that South Korea insists is accurate. 

South Korea has also criticized Japan’s explanations regarding forced labor at exhibition facilities for “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution,” which include the Hashima Coal Mine on Hashima island in Nagasaki Prefecture and were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015.

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