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Fri, March 24, 2023 | 02:02
Foreign Affairs
Battle for UNESCO listing in full swing
中, 군위안부·난징대학살 기록유산 등재 가능성에 촉각
Posted : 2015-10-05 17:17
Updated : 2015-10-05 20:54
Yi Whan-woo
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By Yi Whan-woo

Korea and China have launched appeals for recognition from UNESCO based on historical records regarding Tokyo's wartime atrocities.

Korea and China are trying to highlight Japan's state-sponsored crimes during World War II, such as a program of forced labor, sexual enslavement of women and the massacre of civilians at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Japan, on the other hand, is citing a collection of documents as evidence that many of its citizens were victimized as slave laborers in Siberia by the Soviet Union after World War II.

The row comes amid Tokyo's failure to correctly address the issue of the forced labor of Koreans at seven of the 23 Meiji-era industrial sites that UNESCO granted world heritage status to in July. The sites included coalmines, shipyards and steelworks across Japan.

Some 57,000 Koreans were forced to work under extreme conditions at those sites, which UNESCO endorsed for illustrating Japan's rapid transformation into an industrial power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Acknowledging its atrocities, Tokyo said back then that it will take measures to help an understanding that Japan "implemented its policy of requisition" during WWII.

However, little progress has been made since then, according to Korean scholars and activists who visited the scenes recently.

Under such circumstances, Seoul's Cultural Heritage Administration has been reviewing up to 330,000 documents, including government records and written testimonies that describe Japan's forceful use of Korean laborers during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the peninsula.

The administrative body will select two of the documents by the end of this month. It will then submit them to UNESCO, which will decide whether to endorse them or not by next year.

China is making its UNESCO appeal based on two documents linked to the Nanjing Massacre and Japan's sexual enslavement of the Chinese women before and during WWII.

Up to 300,000 civilians and unarmed combatants were killed by the Japanese troops between December 1937 and March 1938 in Nanjing during the second Sino-Japanese War.

An estimated 200,000 women, mostly Koreans and Chinese, worked at military brothels operated by the Japanese Army in Asia.

UNESCO will make a decision over Beijing's two historical documents at its ongoing International Advisory Committee meeting in Abu Dhabi. The meeting will last through Tuesday.

During the meeting, Japan will also try to register diaries, letters and other written records that show the conditions endured by Japanese prisoners of war and civilians who were forcibly taken to work in Siberia after its defeat in WWII.

According to the Northeast Asian History Foundation, a think tank in Seoul, those documents are controversial because some 10,000 captives were Koreans who were previously conscripted to work in Japan.

Meanwhile, Yoshihide Suga, Japan's chief cabinet secretary and top government spokesman, protested against China's move, Friday, saying "Beijing was using the UNESCO for political purposes."

"It's extremely regretful that China was making such moves at a time when efforts to improve bilateral ties are critical," he said.


中, 군위안부·난징대학살 기록유산 등재 가능성에 촉각

중국학자들, 일본의 '밀실논의' 주장에 '역사 왜곡·말살' 반박

중국이 일본군 위안부 및 난징(南京)대학살 기록의 유네스코(UNESCO·유엔 교육과학문화기구) 세계기록유산 등재 가능성에 촉각을 세우고 있다.

유네스코 세계기록유산 자문위원회는 4일(현지시간)부터 6일까지 일정으로 아랍에미리트 아부다비에서 회의를 열고 중국이 신청한 군 위안부, 난징대학살 기록을 포함해 모두 88건의 기록유산 신청을 심사한다.

자문위는 이미 지난해 하반기에 전문가팀을 난징에 보내 기록물을 검토했다.

중국 외교부는 지난해 6월 유네스코에 신청한 군 위안부 자료에 대해 '중국 동북지역에 주둔하며 중국을 침략한 일본군에 관한 자료를 비롯해 관동헌병대 사료(당안), 상하이(上海) 공공조계 경무처 사료, 왕징웨이(汪精衛) 정권(1940∼1945년 난징의 친일괴뢰정부) 사료, 만주중앙은행 사료, 일본 전범의 서면자백서 등'이 포함돼 있다고 설명한 바 있다.

난징대학살 기록문서는 옛 문서와 사진, 필름 등으로 구성됐다.

관영 영자지 차이나데일리 등 중국 언론들은 5일 이번 군 위안부 자료 등에 대한 세계기록유산 심사 소식을 일제히 보도하며 기대감을 표명했다.

주청산(朱成山) 난징대학살 희생자 추모기념관 관장은 이 신문과의 인터뷰에서 '(신청한 난징대학살 기록물은) 대학살에 대한 1차 사료'라며 '역사적으로 매우 중요한 자료들'이라고 설명했다.

궈비창(郭必强) 제2역사당안관 연구원도 올해가 항일전쟁 승리 70주년이라는 점을 거론하며 '그것은 우리에게 역사를 되돌아보게 하고 평화의 소중함을 일깨워줄 것'이라고 주장했다.

세계기록유산에 등재되려면 심사등재위원회와 기술위원회 등을 거쳐 위원 14명으로 구성된 자문위의 심사를 거쳐야 한다. 자문위가 등재권고를 결의하면 유네스코 사무총장의 추인 절차를 거쳐 최종 확정된다.

중국 측은 일본이 난징대학살 자료의 세계기록유산 등재 심사와 관련해 '밀실 논의'를 거론하며 문제를 제기하는 상황에 대해 강하게 반발했다.

난징대학살 역사연구회 고문인 징청훙(經盛鴻) 난징대 역사학과 교수는 중국언론과의 인터뷰에서 '역사는 왜곡도 말살도 할 수 없다'고 비판했다.

이번 신청 시도가 실패로 돌아가면 재추진하겠다는 의지도 피력했다. (연합뉴스)
Emailyistory@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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