▲ This file photo, taken Nov. 25, 2024, shows bereaved family members of Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor at the Sado mine complex during World War II exploring the interior of the Sado gold and silver mines on Sado Island, off Japan's west coast. Earlier in the day, they held a memorial ceremony for the victims and boycotted a Japan-hosted event, citing Tokyo's apparent insincerity in fulfilling its pledge to remember the victims. (Yonhap)

 

By Kim Seung-yeon

 

   SEOUL, Dec. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea urged Japan on Monday to follow through on its pledge to fully reflect the history of a UNESCO-listed heritage site linked to wartime forced labor, after finding that Japan's conservation report failed to explain the coercive nature of workers' mobilization.

 

   The foreign ministry made the call after the World Heritage Committee (WHC) released the report submitted by Japan on the implementation of the WHC's recommendations on presenting the history of the old Sado gold and silver mine complex. The site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in July last year.

 

   South Korea, one of the 21 WHC members, agreed to the Sado mine's UNESCO heritage listing on condition that Japan would implement all decisions adopted by the WHC, including improving how the site is presented and interpreted.

 

▲ In this file photo, Lee Chil-kyu (C), a bereaved family member, places a flower during a memorial service on Sado Island in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, on Nov. 21, 2025, to pay tribute to Korean victims who were forced to work at a gold and silver mine complex on the island during Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)

 

   "We point out that the report shows the Japanese government has failed to faithfully implement the decisions of the WHC to fully reflect the entire history of the Sado mines on site, as well as Japan's own pledges made during the inscription process," foreign ministry spokesperson Park Il said in a commentary. 

 

   Park recalled the statement that a Japanese representative made in 2015 when a Japanese industrial site linked to forced labor won the World Heritage status. Japan acknowledged at the time that "many Koreans were brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions" at those sites and pledged to work to reflect that chapter of history. 

 

   When the Sado mines were listed last year, Takehiro Kano, Japan's envoy for UNESCO, said that Japan would "bear in mind" all pledges related to the WHC's decisions. 

 

   Seoul has viewed this as Japan having reaffirmed its commitment to properly show the mines as a former forced labor site. 

 

   "Our government urges Japan to faithfully implement the WHC's decision, its own commitments and the agreements reached between the governments of South Korea and Japan," Park said. 

 

   "We will continue to engage in dialogue with the Japanese government regarding follow-up measures related to the Sado mine inscription," he added.   

 

   The latest report is Japan's first conservation document on the Sado mines after the inscription.

   "Apart from partial improvements to some (Sado mine) facilities, we do not consider the interpretive strategy to have been meaningfully enhanced," a foreign ministry official said. 

 

   The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body to UNESCO, will evaluate the implementation report on the Sado mines over the next couple of months before delivering its conclusion to the WHC.

   

   "Going forward, the government will continue to urge Japan to faithfully implement the recommendations with sincerity, and we intend to continue raising this issue not only bilaterally but also within UNESCO," she said.

 

   The Sado mines, once famous as a gold mine between the 17th and 19th centuries, were mainly used to produce war supplies for the Japanese imperial army during World War II. More than 1,500 Koreans are reported to have been forced into labor at the mines from 1940-45, when Korea was under Japan's colonial rule.

 

   Among Japan's pledges was holding a regular memorial ceremony to honor the workers who were forcibly taken for hard labor. South Korea declined to attend the Japan-hosted memorials for the second consecutive year this year, due to disagreements with Tokyo over how the event should be organized to honor the victims.

 

   South Korea has instead held its own ceremonies with bereaved family members near the Sado mine site, located in Niigata Prefecture, off Japan's west coast.

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