UNESCO panel defers call on Japan's world heritage bid

A UNESCO panel deferred a decision Saturday on whether to list a set of early Japanese industrial facilities as world heritage, officials said, as South Korea demands Japan clearly reveal that some of them are connected with its wartime wrongdoing.

The 23 candidate locales include seven coal mines and shipyards where close to 60,000 Koreans were forced to toil during World War II. Korea was under Japan's colonial rule from 1910-45.

The two countries have been in talks for months in an effort to find a compromise that will address Seoul's concerns.

The World Heritage Committee was expected to decide on Tokyo's bid sometime Saturday with its 39th session under way in Bonn, Germany.

However, it decided to postpone a formal review of the subject to Sunday, according to the officials.

The decision indicates that South Korea and Japan remain at odds over how to describe the related historical background in UNESCO records.

It would give the Northeast Asian neighbors at least 24 more hours to settle the dispute first before a review by 19 other members of the group.

If the two sides fail to reach a deal, the committee may put the matter to a vote.

The outcome of the Seoul-Tokyo talks is expected to set the tone for the future of their ties, which have long been marred by disputes over their shared history.

Earlier in the day, eight historical sites in South Korea were put on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

They include Gongsan-Seong Fortress of the Baekje Dynasty (18 B.C.-660 A.D.), located in what is now the city of Gongju, 160 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)