VANK launches a global campaign to urge the history of forced mobilization of Koreans to be reflected in the push for Asio Mine to be listed as UNESCO

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seong Do-hyeon = Cyber ​​diplomatic mission VANK (Director Park Ki-tae) announced on the 24th that it is launching a global campaign to call for a complete reflection of the history of forced mobilization of Koreans in relation to the promotion of the Ashio Mine in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This campaign was designed to put the brakes on Japan's move to register the Ashio Mine as a World Heritage Site while omitting the history of forced mobilization.

The Asio Copper Mine was a place where 2,416 Koreans were forcibly mobilized from August 1940 to May 1945, and 73 lost their lives.

Among the dead, 22 were infants under one year of age, and 257 Chinese and Allied prisoners of war also suffered from harsh labor.

Nikko City, Japan, has been pushing for the mine to be listed as a World Heritage Site since 2007, but the history of forced mobilization of Koreans is not specified anywhere, including in the related memorial hall.

In particular, concerns are growing as Koko Kato, head of the Industrial Heritage Information Center, who led the registration of Gunkanjima Island and Sado Mine, pointed to the Ashio Mine as the 'next heritage to be listed.'

VANK defines this move as a repeat of the ‘erasing of history’ of the Battleship Island and Sado Mine.

Japan promised to reflect the history of forced mobilization in the previous two registration processes, but was later criticized for breaking its promise to the international community by distorting the information center exhibition and holding a half-hearted memorial ceremony.

Accordingly, VANK plans to move away from the past reactive response method of urging fulfillment of promises after registration is completed and respond proactively from the stage before listing on the official tentative list.

To this end, VANK produced and distributed posters in Korean and English titled ‘Before the third stamp’ and posted a petition on its own global petition platform ‘Ullim’.

The poster emphasized the urgency of proactive response by showing the Asio Mine, which has not yet been stamped, in addition to Battleship Island and Sado Mine, which have been stamped for UNESCO registration.

VANK plans to produce card news and short-form videos explaining the history of forced mobilization in the future and promote them on social media. We plan to continue to request corrections through monitoring promotional materials and official promotional materials.

In addition, we plan to expand participation by using our own artificial intelligence platform 'AI Legislator' and 'AI International Organization' to establish a public forum where citizens can directly propose and discuss related policies.

Director Park Ki-tae said, "While informing the world of the achievements of industrial development, we must not omit the history of the people who suffered at the site. Together with young people and citizens, we will strongly demand that the international community reflect history."