Sado Was Approved for World Heritage

The World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO inscribed Sado Island Gold Mines as World Cultural Heritage in the meeting at New Delhi, India. Although the Republic of Korea has been opposing the inscription, arguing that Japan has history of forced labor on Korean people there, Japan was successful in reaching a deal with Yoon Suk Yeol administration, which is known as politically pro-Japan stance. 

The Sado Island Gold Mines consists of two mines, Nishimikawa and Aikawa-Turushi, with unmechanized mining methods between sixteen and nineteen centuries. The Agency for Cultural Affairs decided in 2021 to “consider” recommending Sado Island Gold Mines for the World Heritage. The reason why the government avoided immediate recommendation was that then ROK administration led by the President, Moon Jae-in, was opposing to the candidacy.

 

The government of Japan has been taking a stance that the labor of Korean people in Sado mines had not been “forced labor.” In 2021, a conservative lawmaker, Nobuyuki Baba, currently the head of Japan Innovation Party, asked a questionto Yoshihide Suga administration on the definition of “forced transportation.” Indicating that there were various reasons for the Korean people who moved to the main land of Japan, Baba insisted that the mobilization of Korean people was requisition based on the National Requisition Ordinance.

 

In the answer to Baba, the government of Japan admitted that the mobilization of the Korean people was not forced transportation but requisition based on the National Mobilization Act, and argued that it would not appropriate for the government to recognize the requisition as forced transportation stipulated in the Forced Labour Convention, being effective in 1932.

 

Against ROK’s opposition, the government of Japan applied the Sado Island Gold Mines to the World Heritage in 2022. An advisory body of UNESCO, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), made “referral” recommendation for the mines in June, 2024. The UNESCO finally raised the status to “inscription” this month.

 

There was a series of diplomatic efforts between Japan and ROK. Japan offered setting display in the site, which describes severe situation of all the workers including Korean people. To eliminate doubts in the ROK about implementation by Japan, Japan decided to start the display within July.

 

“This is a delightful news which many people were waiting for, and I sincerely celebrate it,” said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida about the registration to the World Heritage. He hopes every diplomatic achievement to work as a reinforcement for his political basis. However, the achievement was made by a compromise of Yoon administration to approve the deal without using the word of “forced” in the display about the labor in the gold mines in Sado.

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