Backlash erupts over Korea's concession on UNESCO listing of Japan's Sado mine
A visitor looks at an exhibition at the Aikawa History Museum near the Sado mine, Japan, Sunday, which includes exhibits on harsh conditions endured by Koreans who were forced to work at the mine during Japan's colonial rule. Yonhap
The Korean government's recent decision to approve the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing of Japan's Sado mine — a controversial wartime site where at least 1,500 Koreans were forced to work — is facing criticism for appearing to make another concession in ongoing historical disputes with Japan.
Although the government asserts that it has secured concrete measures from Tokyo to recognize the Korean laborers, including the launch of an exhibition near the mine site, doubts remain about the sincerity of these actions. Critics point out that the exhibition materials do not explicitly mention "forced labor," which they interpret as Japan's ongoing effort to downplay the reality of modern slavery.
The Sado mine was registered as a world cultural heritage site on Saturday during a UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) session in New Delhi. The decision was reached through a consensus among the 21 committee members, which include both Korea and Japan.
The next day, Japanese authorities opened an exhibition on Korean laborers at the Aikawa History Museum, located about two kilometers from the mine site. This followed Tokyo's promise to portray the history of Korean forced labor at the mines and to hold annual memorial ceremonies honoring the Korean workers, in return for Seoul endorsing Japan's World Heritage bid.
Under the title, "The Life of Mine Workers, Including People from the Korean Peninsula," the exhibition installed at the museum highlights the harsh living and labor conditions faced by Koreans who were forced to work there for war-related manufacturing during World War II, when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule (1910-45).
The exhibition materials state that the Japanese General Government — a governing body launched by Imperial Japan during the colonial era — was involved in "recruiting and employing" Korean laborers at the mine site, and that these Koreans were assigned to harsher mine work than their Japanese counterparts.
Mannequins are displayed inside the Sohdayu mine, part of the Sado mine complex, on Japan's Sado Island, Sunday. Yonhap
Kim Yeong-hwan, a member of the Center for Historical Truth and Justice, a local civic group representing forced labor victims, criticized the exhibitions for significantly falling short of Japan's promise to acknowledge the dark history linked to the mines.
"The term 'laborers from the Korean Peninsula' is used by the Japanese government to dilute the coercive nature of the forced labor. It sounds as if Koreans voluntarily went to Japan to earn money, while the reality is that they were forced to do so without being properly paid," Kim told The Korea Times, Monday.
He added, "Our government has made yet another concession to Japan in its push to maintain friendly bilateral relations. It has turned a blind eye to Japan's continuous attempts to distort the history involving forced labor."
The activist also questioned why the exhibition was placed in the relatively small Aikawa museum, instead of the larger and more easily accessible Kirarium Sado Information Center.
Some critics argued that the Korean government should have pushed for more explicit portrayals of forced labor at the exhibition hall, given Seoul's significant leverage in the discussions.
UNESCO's listing of a site as a World Heritage property requires a two-thirds majority vote from 21 WHC members present, though decisions are typically made by consensus. Korea was the only known member objecting to the listing of the Sado mine, meaning that if Seoul had maintained its objection, the listing would have been impossible.
"It is difficult to understand why our government rushed this agreement when they could have taken more time to negotiate by deferring the inscription until next year, and demanding that Japan more accurately reflect the history of the mine," said Yang Ki-ho, a professor of Japanese Studies at Sungkonghoe University.
A lunch box used by Korean workers at the Sado mine is displayed at an exhibition hall at the Aikawa History Museum, Sunday. Yonhap
Opposition parties slammed the government's failure to block the inscription of the mine, calling it "a diplomatic blunder."
"The move, which endorses Japan's distortion of its wartime atrocities, raises questions on whether our government is truly a Korean government or merely acting as an extension of Japan's colonial rule," Rep. Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said Monday.
Following the Sado mine's inscription, some Japanese media outlets reported, Sunday, that the Korean and Japanese governments had agreed not to use terms related to "forced labor" at the exhibition facility.
Korea's foreign ministry refuted these reports as "groundless."
The ministry also explained that the exhibitions are permanent facilities and that Japan has pledged to improve them.
"The current exhibits were prepared in a hurry because the agreement between Korea and Japan (on the Sado mine) was reached at the last moment. Plans are in place to promptly replace them with better-quality materials," it said in a statement released late Sunday.