Japan admits forced labor in UNESCO heritage sites

By Yun Suh-young, Chung Ah-young

A set of Japanese industrial facilities were listed as UNESCO world heritage sites Sunday after Japan admitted some were used for wartime wrongdoings.

The 23 Meiji Industrial Revolution sites now registered as world heritage include shipyards, coalmines and steelworks where in seven of them, 57,900 Koreans were coerced into labor under extreme conditions during its colonial rule over Korea (1910-45).

This is the first time Japan de facto admitted internationally that they forced Koreans to work against their will during the colonial period.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee (WHC) decided to accept the bid during its 39th session in Bonn, Germany, after Korea and Japan finalized their last-minute negotiations on attaching an annotation to Japan's UNESCO documents citing the historical wounds of Korea.

Seoul and Tokyo have been in talks for months, struggling to find a compromise that addresses Seoul's concerns. Seoul had demanded that Japan clearly reveal some of the sites had forced labor of Koreans.

The committee's formal review of the subject was to be made originally on Saturday but was postponed until Sunday as the two countries remained at odds over how to describe the historical background of the sites in UNESCO records.

Japan also agreed to establish an information center commemorating the victims of forced labor.

UNESCO also registered eight historical sites in South Korea as World Heritage.

Eight historical sites representing the Baekje Kingdom (B.C. 18-A.D. 660) have made it onto the UNESCO list of world heritage sites -- Korea’s 12th listing for such treasures.

The World Heritage Committee (WHC) approved Saturday the inscription of the Baekje Historic Areas in Gongju, Buyeo in South Chungcheong Province and Iksan in North Jeolla Province at its 39th session in Bonn, Germany.

The committee added the sites because they represent active exchanges and trade during ancient times among China, Korea and Japan and for their historical architectural value.

The eight areas are Gongsanseong Fortress; the group royal tombs in Songsanri in Gongju; the Gwanbuk-ri administrative buildings and Busosanseong Fortress; the Jeonglimsa Temple site; tombs of Neungsan-ri; Naseong Fortress in Buyeo; the royal palace at Wanggung-ri; and the Mireuksa Temple site in Iksan.

“Together, these sites represent the later period of the Baekje Kingdom -- one of the three earliest kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula -- during which time they were at the crossroads of considerable technological, religious (Buddhist), cultural and artistic exchanges between the ancient East Asian kingdoms in Korea, China and Japan,” UNESCO said.