Korea voices regret after Japan’s UNESCO report again fails to reflect forced labor

Korea Voices Regret After Japan's Unesco Report Again Fails To Reflect Forced Labor

A panoramic view of Hashima Island, or Battleship Island in Nagasaki / Korea Times file

A panoramic view of Hashima Island, or Battleship Island in Nagasaki / Korea Occasions file

Korea voiced disappointment Saturday after Japan’s follow-up report on its UNESCO-listed industrial websites failed to supply the complete historic context, together with the wartime pressured labor involving Koreans.

Japan had promised earlier to take steps to recollect the victims, together with many Koreans who have been pressured into onerous labor, when its 23 Meiji-era industrial revolution websites received the UNESCO World Heritage standing in 2015.

One of many websites contains Hashima Island, the place Koreans have been forcibly taken for labor to provide conflict provides for the Japanese Imperial Military.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) really useful Tokyo take measures to mirror the „full historical past“ of the amenities, as requested by Seoul.

That included taking steps to raised current the historical past on the pressured labor and what number of Koreans have been taken towards their will to toil underneath harsh circumstances. It additionally referred to as for Japan to make changes to the museum displays on the websites.

In its newest report, launched Friday (Paris time), Japan nonetheless fell wanting following by way of on the WHC suggestions, Seoul’s overseas ministry stated.

„We as soon as once more categorical our remorse that the WHC’s repeated selections and the follow-up measures Japan itself has promised haven’t been faithfully carried out,“ overseas ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong stated in a commentary.

„We urge Japan to promptly and sincerely implement the related follow-up measures in step with its personal commitments to the worldwide neighborhood,“ he stated.

Specifically, Japan didn’t take away the museum exhibit asserting the legality of its 1910-1945 pressured annexation of Korea and the supplies that deny the pressured labor, regardless of Seoul’s repeated requests, a ministry official stated.

The supplies assert that the working and dwelling circumstances for Koreans have been no totally different from these of Japanese employees, a stance that is still unchanged from the preliminary displays.

Though Japan has up to date the displays with the victims‘ testimonies in step with the WHC suggestions, the supplies are positioned as a part of a Korean-language assets assortment on a bookshelf, reasonably than being correctly showcased in an exhibit, the official stated.

One other official advised Japan’s follow-up actions might affect Korea’s stance on Tokyo’s future bids for the UNESCO inscription of historic websites linked to the pressured mobilization of Koreans.

„Japan dangers damaging its worldwide repute by failing to implement the WHC resolution,“ the official stated. „We’ll consider all potential actions for a powerful response. We won’t rule out any particular actions we might or might not take.“

The ministry stated it is going to proceed to lift this subject in bilateral talks with Japan, in addition to inside the UNESCO framework.

Upon the positioning’s UNESCO inscription, Japan publicly acknowledged that many Koreans have been „introduced towards their will and compelled to work underneath harsh circumstances“ and promised to take concrete steps to completely current the historical past.

However Japan’s tepid follow-up steps have drawn the ire of Seoul.

In 2023, the WHC adopted a choice calling on Japan to submit a follow-up report on the implementation of such measures after its 4 earlier stories have been proven to be inadequate.

Japan’s newest report got here after Korea boycotted a Japan-hosted memorial ceremony for Korean victims of the Sado mine advanced, one other UNESCO-listed pressured labor website, final November, citing Tokyo’s „lack of efforts“ to sincerely honor the victims. (Yonhap)

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