Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony to be held on the 24th... tug of war over the attendance of 'high-level'

[Anchor]
Japanese colonial era A memorial ceremony for the victims of Sado mine in Japan, where Koreans were forcibly mobilized, will be held on the 24th.

The Korean government continues to demand that Japan attend a "high-level" government representative, but the Japanese government has yet to give an answer just days before the memorial service.

Reporter Hong Sun-ki reports.

[Reporter]
A memorial ceremony for the victims of Sado mine in Japan, where there was forced labor of Koreans in Japanese colonial era, will be held in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture, on the 24th.

This memorial ceremony was one of the things that our government promised to do instead of opposing when Japan listed the Sado mine as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July.

About 10 bereaved families of Korean victims who were taken to Sado Mine and forced to work will also attend the memorial service.

In Japan, officials from the central government and local governments, as well as private organizations, will attend, but who will represent the Japanese government has not yet been decided.

The Korean government has been constantly demanding that the Japanese side attend high-level political officers or higher, which is equivalent to the level of our vice minister.

However, the Japanese side has not confirmed the government's representative until a few days before the event after the memorial service schedule is confirmed.

For this reason, our delegation, which has to meet Japan's level, has not yet been confirmed.

As much as who is coming as the representative of the Japanese government, it is the content of the Japanese memorial service.

There are also concerns that the mention or memorial service for forced labor of Koreans may not be clear simply in the name of the "victim memorial service."

There is still no expression of Korean workers' coercion in the Sado Mine Exhibition Hall, and there is also a description of Koreans by the term "Penyan."

[Choi Eun-mi / Researcher of Asan Institute for Policy Studies: It's important to know how high-level the Japanese government will come, but we need to pay more attention to the essential part of the eulogy and how to fill in the current shortcomings.]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it will continue to discuss the details of the eulogy with Japanese government participants, but there are still concerns that they will only agree to register as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and be stabbed in the back.

This is YTN Hong Seon-gi.