Japan’s Sado mine expected to be listed as UNESCO heritage: Seoul’s foreign ministry

Japan’s former gold mine, associated with South Korea’s wartime forced labor, is expected to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site over the weekend, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Friday.

Seoul has protested Tokyo’s push to enlist its gold and silver mine complex on Sado Island, arguing that Japan initially intended to omit the part of its history involving thousands of Koreans who were forced to toil during World War II, when Korea was under Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC), which consists of representatives from 21 member states, is scheduled to review and decide on 28 new listing proposals, including the Sado mine, at its meeting in New Delhi, India, on Saturday.

“Unless something extraordinary happens within the next 24 hours, it is likely that the Sado mine will be listed as a World Heritage Site without a voting showdown between Japan and South Korea,” a foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

Both Japan and South Korea are members of the rotating committee this year. While a two-thirds majority of the UNESCO WHC’s entire member states is required for a site to be listed, decisions are typically made by consensus.

Earlier this month, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, an advisory body to the UNESCO WHC, recommended referring the nomination of the Sado mine back to Japan, calling for a more comprehensive explanation of its entire history.

In its original submission, Japan limited the mine’s timeline specifically to the Edo period (1603-1868), excluding the modern history during which war atrocities were committed.

Following negotiations between the two countries, Japan has promised to reflect the “whole history” of the controversial mine, according to the official.

The official further said Tokyo has already taken “substantial measures” to carry out such a promise, without providing further details.

Earlier in the day, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted a Japanese official as saying that Tokyo and Seoul have agreed to Japan’s display of the history of forced labor of people, including Koreans, at the mines, indicating it could be such measures.

However, there are concerns about how prominently the forced labor aspect will be featured in Japan’s displays.

On Thursday, South Korea’s National Assembly adopted a resolution urging the withdrawal of Japan’s bid to register the Sado mine. The resolution was passed unanimously during a plenary session, with all 225 attending members voting in favor.

It is estimated that over 2,000 Koreans were forcibly mobilized to work under harsh conditions at the Sado mine.