Sado Island tension between South Korea and Japan

According to Yonhap, South Korea's Ambassador to Tokyo, Lee Hyuk, commemorated the Korean workers who were forced to work in the gold and silver mine complex on Japan's Sado Island.

Speaking at the ceremony attended by family members of Korean workers, Lee demanded that Japan accept that Korean workers were "forced labor" in the mines.

"Remembering the pain of the past and offering our condolences here today will deepen our sense of empathy and healing, and provide an opportunity for everyone to fully understand the full history of the Sado mine as a World Heritage site," Lee said. made his assessment.

WHAT HAPPENED IN SADO MINES

The 16th-century gold and silver mines on Sado Island off Niigata Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan (East Sea) coast, operated for nearly 400 years before being closed in 1989. Historians state that during the period 1910-1945, when Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula, and during World War II, hundreds of Koreans were forced to work under poor and brutal conditions in the Sado mines, and women were abused.

The Japanese government decided in February 2022 to recommend the Sado Island mining complex to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. South Korea withdrew its opposition to the complex's inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List after Japan agreed to more openly acknowledge Korean suffering in an exhibition at the site and include Koreans in the commemoration ceremony.