Korea Objects to Japan’s Attempted Listing of Gold Mine as UNESCO World Heritage Site
It seems to me a fairway to handle this is that any information about the site include the fact that Korean forced laborers were used her during the Imperial era. However, this makes too much sense and likely won’t happen:
A government panel proposed Tuesday that a gold mine site on the island of Sado, Niigata Prefecture, be a candidate for the 2023 UNESCO World Heritage designation.
But in a rare move, the Cultural Affairs Agency released a statement saying that the candidate selection by the Council for Cultural Affairs does not mean that the government has decided to recommend the site to UNESCO.
The agency said that the government will consider the matter comprehensively.
Under ordinary circumstances, the Japanese government would submit a recommendation to UNESCO by Feb. 1 next year after obtaining approval from related ministries and agencies and the Cabinet.
As South Korea claims that workers from the Korean Peninsula were forced to work at the Sado mines, however, it is unclear whether the Japanese government will recommend the site for World Heritage listing.
Yomiuri Shimbun
You can read more at the link.
Sadly, GI, you’re probably correct.
Asian cultures, in general, tend to view the sins of those long dead as their own, or those of others, and don’t typically publish them.
This blocks mutual understanding and forgiveness.
Speak to your buddies in Tokyo. You do realize that’s South Korea’s position, right? The Japanese government doesn’t recognize them as forced laborers. I’m surprised you didn’t parrot Japan’s position that the 1965 treaty means Japan has the right to distort history as any way they like.
Prior to this, there was another case involving Japan and UNESCO.
The 2015 agreement between Japan and South Korea said Japan would install exhibits for the forced laborers, in return for UNESCO recognizing a site in Japan (where thousands of Korean slaves were worked/tortured to death), as a world heritage site.
But UNESCO concluded that Japan broke that promise.
When the American movie “Unbroken” directed by Angelina Jolie was released in 2014, Japan charged the movie of “Racism” against the Japanese saying the story of abuses against American POW forced laborers were lies. Angelina Jolie was temporarily banned from entering Japan by the Japanese government. And for a short while, the movie was even banned in Japan.
Japanese Nationalists complained about the film’s depiction of sadistic Japanese guards against US POWs during WWII, but Tokyo cinema ended up deciding to show it despite the charges that it was anti-Japan racism.
The actor who played the sadistic Japanese guard was played by a Japanese actor who was half Korean and half Japanese. He was blacked balled in Japan as a dirty Korean who was making Japan look bad.