S.Korea boycotts Japan’s Sado mines memorial

Japanese officials on Sunday paid tribute to workers at the country’s Sado Island Gold Mines but offered no apology over Japan’s brutal wartime use of Korean forced labourers, highlighting lingering tensions between the neighbors over the issue.

South Korea a day earlier announced that it was boycotting the memorial, saying it had been impossible to settle unspecified disagreements between both governments in time for the event.

The Korean absence is a major setback in the rapidly improving ties between the two countries, which since last year have set aside their historical disputes to prioritize US-led security cooperation.

The Sado mines were listed in July as a UNESCO World Heritage Site after Japan moved past years of disputes with South Korea and reluctantly acknowledged the mines’ dark history, promising to hold an annual memorial service for all victims, including hundreds of Koreans who were mobilised to work in the mines.

The first ceremony of what Japan has promised will be an annual event held at a facility near the mines took place with more than 20 seats for South Korean attendees empty.

“As a local resident, I must say (their absence) is very disappointing after all the preparations we made,” said Sado Mayor Ryugo Watanabe.

“I wish we could have held the memorial with South Korean attendees.”

Families of Korean victims of mine accidents and South Korean officials are expected to hold their own ceremony near the mine on Monday as an expression of their “firm resolve not to make a compromise with Japan on history issues,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It said South korea will continue to strive to achieve the improvement of bilateral ties in a way that serves national interests of both countries.

At Sunday’s ceremony, four Japanese representatives, including central and local government officials and the head of the organizing group, thanked all mine workers for their sacrifice and mourned for those who died. None offered any apology to Korean forced laborers for the harsh treatment at the mines.

Akiko Ikuina, a parliamentary vice minister, representing Japan’s government, praised the craftsmanship of the laborers and their contribution to the Sado mines.

She noted that “many people from the Korean Peninsula were at the mines under Japan’s wartime labour policies” and that they engaged in difficult work under dangerous and severe conditions away from home and their loved ones, and some died in accidents or from illnesses.

Associated Press