Japan holds Sado mines memorial despite South Korean boycott

SADO, Japan — 

Japan held a memorial ceremonial connected Sunday adjacent the Sado Island Gold Mines contempt a last-minute boycott of the lawsuit by South Korea that highlighted tensions betwixt the neighbors implicit the contented of Korean forced laborers astatine the tract earlier and during World War II.

South Korea's lack astatine Sunday's memorial, to which Seoul authorities officials and Korean victims' families were invited, is simply a large setback successful the rapidly improving ties betwixt the 2 countries, which since past twelvemonth person acceptable speech their humanities disputes to prioritize U.S.-led information cooperation.

The Sado mines were listed successful July arsenic a UNESCO World Heritage tract aft Japan moved past years of disputes with South Korea and reluctantly acknowledged the mines' acheronian history, promising to clasp an yearly memorial work for each victims, including hundreds of Koreans who were mobilized to enactment successful the mines.

On Saturday, South Korea announced it would not be the event, saying it was intolerable to settee unspecified disagreements betwixt the 2 governments successful time.

Families of Korean victims of the excavation accidents were expected to separately clasp their ain ceremonial adjacent the excavation astatine a aboriginal date.

Masashi Mizobuchi, an adjunct property caput successful Japan's Foreign Ministry, said Japan has been successful connection with Seoul and called the South Korean determination "disappointing."

The ceremonial was held arsenic planned connected Sunday astatine a installation adjacent the mines, wherever much than 20 seats for Korean attendees remained vacant.

The 16th period mines connected the land of Sado, disconnected Japan's north-central coast, operated for astir 400 years earlier closing successful 1989 and were erstwhile the world's largest golden producer.

Historians accidental astir 1,500 Koreans were mobilized to Sado arsenic portion of Japan's usage of hundreds of thousands of Korean laborers, including those forcibly brought from the Korean Peninsula, astatine Japanese mines and factories to marque up for labour shortages due to the fact that astir working-age Japanese men had been sent to battlefronts crossed Asia and the Pacific.

Japan's authorities has maintained that each wartime compensation issues betwixt the 2 countries were resolved nether a 1965 normalization treaty.

South Korea had agelong opposed the listing of the tract arsenic World Heritage connected the grounds that the Korean forced laborers, contempt their cardinal relation successful the wartime excavation production, were missing from the exhibition. Seoul's backing for Sado came arsenic South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol prioritized improving relations with Japan.

The Japanese authorities said Sunday's ceremonial was to wage tribute to "all workers" who died astatine the mines but would not spell retired inclusion of Korean laborers — portion of what critics telephone a persistent argumentation of whitewashing Japan's past of intersexual and labour exploitation earlier and during the war.

Preparation for the lawsuit by section organizers remained unclear until the past minute, which was seen arsenic a motion of Japan's reluctance to look its wartime brutality.

Japan's authorities said connected Friday that Akiko Ikuina — a parliamentary vice curate who reportedly visited Tokyo's arguable Yasukuni Shrine successful August 2022, weeks aft she was elected arsenic a lawmaker — would be the ceremony. Japan's neighbors presumption Yasukuni, which commemorates 2.5 cardinal warfare dormant including warfare criminals, arsenic a awesome of Japan's past militarism.

Ikuina belonged to a Japanese ruling enactment faction of erstwhile Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who led the whitewashing of Japan's wartime atrocities successful the 2010s during his leadership.

For instance, Japan says the presumption "sex slavery" and "forced labor" are inaccurate and insists connected the usage of highly euphemistic presumption specified arsenic "comfort women" and "civilian workers" instead.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said Saturday that Ikuina's Yasukuni sojourn was an contented of contention betwixt the countries' diplomats.

"That contented and assorted different disagreements betwixt diplomatic officials stay unresolved, and with lone a fewer hours remaining until the event, we concluded that determination wasn't capable clip to resoluteness these differences," Cho said successful an interrogation with MBN television.

Some South Koreans had criticized Yoon's authorities for supporting the lawsuit without securing a wide Japanese committedness to item the plight of Korean laborers. There were besides complaints implicit South Korea agreeing to wage for the question expenses of Korean victims' household members to Sado.