Government, bereaved families, and Sado mine separate memorial ceremonies...Will the crippled operation continue?

[Anchor]
The Korean government and the bereaved family separately held a memorial ceremony for mine workers in Sado Island and mourned the sacrifices of forced laborers.

Next year, the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan is set to be held, but as long as Japan's denial of history and refusal to apologize continue, the memorial ceremony seems inevitable.

Correspondent Kim Se-ho reported from Sado, Japan.

[Reporter]
On the middle of a mountain in Sado City, Japan, a space has been set up to honor Korean workers.

The bereaved families offer flowers and soothe the souls of the deceased.

This is the place where Korean workers lived in Sado Mine.

The separate memorial service was attended by more than 30 people, including bereaved families and government officials.

The Korean ambassador to Japan, who missed the Japanese memorial service the previous day, read the eulogy himself at the Korean memorial service.

[Park Chul-hee / Korean Ambassador to Japan: I hope this memorial service will be a little comfort to the deceased Korean workers and their bereaved families]

Initially, Japan promised to hold a memorial service for Korean workers every year as a condition for Sado Mine's World Heritage listing.

However, since the registration, I have been consistent with a passive attitude.

The representative of the Japanese government also decided just two days before the event, but even this raised controversy by sending a far-right figure who paid tribute to Yasukuni.

There was no mention of forced labor of Koreans anywhere in the eulogy, and the expression of "eodo" was all that was ambiguous even with regard to apology.

[Arai Mari / Japanese city councilor Sado: If you think clearly about the human rights of the person in front of you, instead of thinking about strategies, you should say sorry.]

The Japanese government expresses regret that the Korean government did not attend the memorial service organized by the Japanese government.

[Yoshimasa Hayashi / Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary: We are not in a position to explain why Korea did not attend the memorial service, but we regret that Korea did not attend.]

However, unless they show a forward-looking attitude toward forced labor, it seems inevitable that the Sado Mine memorial service will continue to proceed limping afterwards.

I am Kim Se-ho from YTN in Sado City, Japan.


shooting; Saito
editing video; Lim Hyun-chul