UNESCO is failing victims of Japan’s historical colonial exploitation

On November 24, 2024, Japan held a memorial work astatine its UNESCO site, the Sado Gold Mines, successful Niigata to commemorate labourers who worked successful it. South Korean officials who were invited boycotted the event. Instead, connected the pursuing day, they held their ain ceremonial remembering Koreans who worked the mines arsenic forced labourers nether Japanese assemblage rule.

The Sado Gold Mines, which were inscribed arsenic a UNESCO World Heritage Site connected July 27, person go yet different battleground implicit the past of Japanese assemblage exploitation of Koreans and efforts to whitewash it. Japan has agelong resisted recognising the wartime favoritism and forced labour endured by Koreans and different overseas workers, including astatine concern sites listed arsenic World Heritage successful 2015 nether the rubric “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution”.

In some instances, Japan has argued that wartime past is irrelevant to the practice worth of these sites. Though it promised UNESCO to archer the “full history”, the mentation Japan presents is distorted by assemblage apologetics, refusing to recognise Koreans workers mobilised during the warfare arsenic victims of overseas forced labour.

What’s peculiarly troubling is the tolerance of this revisionism by some UNESCO and the existent South Korean government, which look consenting to place the erasure of Korean victims for the involvement of fostering amended diplomatic relations.

When Japan’s Meiji concern sites were inscribed successful 2015, the country initially agreed to contiguous the past of “a ample fig of Koreans and others” who were “brought against their volition and forced to enactment nether harsh conditions”.

But soon after, then-Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida downplayed the concession, stating that “forced to work” did not mean “forced labour”. The statement hinged connected the ineligible fabrication that Koreans, arsenic subjects of the Japanese Empire, could beryllium legally conscripted for wartime labour nether definite conditions.

Since the opening of an information centre in Tokyo successful 2020, meant to amended the nationalist connected this history, Japan has alternatively promoted a whitewashed narrative. It claims that Korean and Japanese labourers worked unneurotic successful harmony, but pointedly avoids the word “Koreans”, while systematically referring to Koreans arsenic “workers from the Korean Peninsula”.

This subtle erasure denies Korean nationality and echoes the assemblage word “hantoujin” (peninsula people), which was utilized to portion Koreans of their individuality during assemblage rule. At that time, Koreans arsenic assemblage subjects did not person the afloat rights of Japanese citizens – different information that is glossed over.

The centre besides omits captious documents, specified arsenic testimonies from Korean labourers and Japanese supervisors, which papers however Koreans were subjected to discrimination, carnal punishment, forced declaration extensions, and unsafe enactment conditions.

Japan’s attack to the Sado Gold Mines, wherever astatine slightest 1,519 Koreans worked arsenic forced labourers nether inhumane conditions during World War II, follows a akin path. In its supplementary information to UNESCO, Japan consistently refers to “workers from the Korean Peninsula” without acknowledging the forced quality of their labour. It adjacent suggests the enactment situation was “non-discriminatory”, blatantly ignoring humanities evidence.

A country wrong the Sado Gold Mines depicting Japanese labourers during the Edo period. There are nary exhibitions successful the mines depicting Korean labourers oregon wartime moving conditions [Courtesy of Nikolai Johnsen]

During the World Heritage inscription ceremony, a Japanese typical announced that an accumulation encompassing Korean labourers had been enactment successful spot and that yearly memorials for “all workers” astatine the mines would beryllium implemented. South Korea’s typical optimistically claimed this would assistance alleviate concerns astir Japan’s nonaccomplishment to code Korean experiences astatine the concern sites inscribed successful 2015.

However, the accumulation – entitled “The Life of Mine Workers Including Those from the Korean Peninsula” – fails to admit the forced and inhumane conditions Korean labourers faced. By grouping their experiences with Japanese workers, Japan efficaciously denies the conditions of overseas forced labour and the documented experiences of victims. Similarly, the memorial held connected November 24 failed to admit Korean forced labour.

Rather than offering a infinitesimal of recognition, the memorial work risks further entrenching a revisionist communicative that suggests each workers astatine the mines faced akin hardships successful enactment of Japan’s warfare effort. This benignant of misrepresentation is much harmful than neglecting to clasp a memorial astatine all. It denies the voices of victims and undermines the ongoing conflict for humanities recognition.

Japan’s persistent denial of wartime forced labour has agelong been a obstruction to improving relations with South Korea. Yet, the existent South Korean authorities has demonstrated that prioritising diplomatic relations takes precedence implicit addressing humanities wrongs and assemblage trauma. In a bid to merchantability the Sado inscription arsenic a diplomatic win, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs adjacent altered the words “all workers” to “Korean workers” successful a summary of the authoritative Japanese connection astatine UNESCO released to the Korean public.

This short-sighted attack risks further undermining South Korea-Japan relations successful the agelong run. Public enactment for the existent South Korean authorities is extraordinarily low and the adjacent authorities whitethorn person to undo overmuch of this enactment to regain nationalist trust.

As planetary discussions progressively absorption connected decolonisation and inclusive narratives, it is alarming to see UNESCO tolerate Japan’s neglect of Korean victims’ voices. While it issued a connection successful 2021 urging Japan to honour its committedness to recognise the past of Korean and different forced labour astatine the Meiji concern sites, it has yet to bespeak immoderate volition of revoking the sites’ World Heritage presumption for non-compliance.

Despite this unresolved issue, UNESCO inscribed the Sado Gold Mines, frankincense undermining its ain credibility and reinforcing humanities revisionism. It should person withheld the Sado Gold Mines’ inscription until Japan corrected the humanities erasure astatine antecedently designated sites.

All of these developments item the value of knowing East Asia’s modern past connected the satellite stage. If we are superior astir decolonisation, we indispensable attack these histories with a broader, transregional perspective, recognising patterns of assemblage legacies beyond the Euro-American context.

By raising consciousness of antithetic forms of imperialism and their enduring effect, we tin empower radical worldwide to amended recognise and situation the assemblage crimes and exploitation that are unfolding successful beforehand of america successful different parts of the satellite today.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.