[속보] Sado Mine is listed as a World Heritage Website… Yoon authorities agrees with out ‘coercion’

Sado Mine in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, the place a big migration of Koreans passed off throughout the Japanese colonial interval, is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Website. It is because the federal government of Yoon Seok-yeol agreed although the Japanese authorities didn’t acknowledge the compelled ‘compelled switch of Koreans’, which was the principle problem. Though there have been achievements, such because the creation of an exhibition facility on Sado Island, it appears tough to keep away from criticism that it’s a step again from the ‘recording of Battleship Island’ throughout the Park Geun-hye administration. July 2015 whereas agreeing. the ‘coercion’ facet.

On the forty sixth assembly held in New Delhi, India on the twenty seventh, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee made the ultimate resolution the Sado Mine in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, as utilized by Japan, to be registered as a World Heritage Website. The World Heritage listing is normally determined by unanimous consent of the 21 international locations which might be members of the World Heritage Committee, together with Korea and Japan. The Ministry of International Affairs of Cornwall mentioned, “We agreed to the itemizing resolution on the idea that Japan will take constructive steps to implement the suggestions of the Worldwide Council on Monuments and Websites (ICOMOS) and the choice of the World Heritage Committee.” seem in full. historical past on the Sado Mine web site.” “I did it,” he mentioned. The governments of Korea and Japan have agreed on exhibition amenities and content material that can present the ‘full historical past’ of the case of the Korean employees at Sado Mine. The Japanese authorities has ready a particular place inside the ‘Aikawa Native Museum’ on Sado Island, and the exhibition shall be open to the general public beginning on the twenty eighth.

Nevertheless, controversy is anticipated as a result of Japan has by no means acknowledged the coercion of the ‘compelled switch of Koreans’, which is the largest drawback between Korea and Japan. Japanese Ambassador to UNESCO Takehiro Kano mentioned in his remarks to the members of the World Heritage Committee that day, “We had shut communication with Korea till we created an evidence and a method of presentation and assets that cowl your complete historical past of the Sado Mine , together with employees from the Korean peninsula. “(Going ahead) we’ll implement it faithfully and fully,” he promised. He mentioned, “To clarify the onerous working situations of every employee and to recollect their onerous work, we confirmed new displays about the entire employee on the native interpretation and exhibition facility. “

Whereas explaining the contents of the presentation, Ambassador Kano associated to the ‘compelled switch of Koreans’, saying, “It was accomplished with the involvement of the Japanese Normal Authorities in Korea, first by way of recruitment after which by way of the mediation of the federal government he continued, “A license made after September 1944 that employees needed to work, and it was damaged. He defined, “He was imprisoned or fined for this.”

There are nonetheless indicators of the place Korean employees lived round 80 years in the past round Sado Mine. There’s a pile of stones in an empty lot behind the mine, which is the positioning of a restaurant the place Korean employees used to eat every single day. It appears empty with none signal. Sado/Journalist Kim So-yeon

It is a massive distinction from July 2015, when 23 websites, together with Hashima (Island of Bata), have been registered as World Heritage websites below ‘Meiji Japan Industrial Revolution Heritage’. On the time, Japanese Ambassador to UNESCO Kuni Sato mentioned, “Within the Forties, a number of Koreans and different residents have been executed ‘towards their will’ and ‘compelled to work’ below harsh situations in a few of assets.” After publicly acknowledging this, he introduced that he would create a useful resource to grasp ‘the entire historical past’. It clarified the coercion of the migration course of and the working setting for Korean employees, together with ‘towards their will’ and ‘compelled labour’. Nevertheless, this time, there was no point out of coercion in any respect, and the onerous labor was expressed as ‘all employees’, thus ‘watering down’ the declare that they suffered the Japanese and colonial Koreans collectively.

Specifically, the Japanese authorities has not saved its promise for 2015 for 9 years, and the ‘erasure of historical past’ associated to the ‘compelled motion of Koreans’ in Japan is being strengthened.

On this regard, an official from the Ministry of International Affairs mentioned, “The problem of compelled expressions was already resolved in 2015. “We didn’t talk with Japan (this time) on the difficulty of expression,” he mentioned. Although the Japanese authorities formally denies ‘coercion’, the Ministry of International Affairs successfully ignores this.

Sado Mine, just lately registered as a World Heritage Website, is half the scale of Jeju Island (854.5㎢) and is the second largest island in Japan after Okinawa. The Aikawa Gold Mine (Sado Mine) on this island earned a reputation as Japan’s largest gold producer throughout the Edo interval (1603-1867). When the Pacific Battle (1941-1945) began, the work of the mine modified. They started to mine not solely gold but in addition copper, zinc and lead, which have been wanted for army provides. To make up for the labor scarcity, about 1,500 former Korean colonial employees have been despatched to the Sado Mine operated by Mitsubishi Mining. On the time, Korean compelled laborers testified, “I noticed a captured man operating away and being crushed,” “I used to be delivered to Sado as a result of the native space mentioned there was a quota (of individuals to take),” and “I used to be at all times hungry and in management.”

Tokyo Correspondent/Kim So-yeon [email protected]Reporter Shin Hyeong-cheol [email protected]