WNAM REPORT: Korea voiced disappointment Saturday after Japan’s follow-up report on its UNESCO-listed industrial sites failed to provide the full historical context, including the wartime forced labor involving Koreans.
Japan had promised earlier to take steps to remember the victims, including many Koreans who were forced into hard labor, when its 23 Meiji-era industrial revolution sites won UNESCO World Heritage status in 2015.
One of the sites includes Hashima Island, where Koreans were forcibly taken for labor to produce war supplies for the Japanese Imperial Army.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) recommended Tokyo take measures to reflect the “full history” of the facilities, as requested by Seoul.
That included taking steps to better present the history of forced labor and how many Koreans were taken against their will to toil under harsh conditions. It also called for Japan to make adjustments to the museum exhibits on the sites.
In its latest report, released Friday (local time) in Paris, Japan still fell short of following through on the WHC recommendations, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
“We once again express our regret that the WHC’s repeated decisions and the follow-up measures Japan itself has promised have not been faithfully carried out,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said in a commentary.
“We urge Japan to promptly and sincerely implement the relevant follow-up measures in line with its own commitments to the international community,” he said.
In particular, Japan did not remove the museum exhibit asserting the legality of its 1910-1945 forced annexation of Korea and materials that deny the forced labor, despite Seoul’s repeated requests, the ministry official said.
The materials assert that the working and living conditions for Koreans were no different from those of Japanese workers, a stance that remains unchanged from the initial exhibits.
Although Japan has updated the exhibits with the victims’ testimonies in line with the WHC recommendations, the materials are placed as part of a Korean-language resources collection on a bookshelf, rather than being properly showcased in an exhibit, the official said.
Another official suggested Japan’s follow-up actions could influence Korea’s stance on Tokyo’s future bids for UNESCO inscription of historical sites linked to the forced mobilization of Koreans.
“Japan risks damaging its international reputation by failing to implement the WHC decision,” the official said. “We will take into account all possible actions for a strong response. We will not rule out any specific actions we may or may not take.”
The ministry said it will continue to raise this issue in bilateral talks with Japan, as well as within the UNESCO framework.
Upon the site’s UNESCO inscription, Japan publicly acknowledged that many Koreans were “brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions” and promised to take concrete steps to fully present the history.
But Japan’s tepid follow-up steps have drawn the ire of Seoul.
In 2023, the WHC adopted a decision calling on Japan to submit a follow-up report on the implementation of such measures after its four previous reports were shown to be insufficient.
Japan’s latest report came after Korea boycotted a Japan-hosted memorial ceremony for Korean victims of the Sado Mines Complex, another UNESCO-listed forced labor site, last November, citing Tokyo’s “lack of efforts” to sincerely honor the victims.
