Sunday, Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony will be held today...No Korea due to Yasukuni controversy

This afternoon at Sado Mine in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, the site of forced labor for Koreans in Japanese colonial era, an event to commemorate the victims will be held for the first time in the absence of the South Korean side.

It was originally scheduled to be held with Korean bereaved families and officials from the Korean and Japanese governments, but as the Japanese government sent a vice minister-level official with a history of visiting Yasukuni shrine as a representative, the Korean government declared its absence, making it a "half-way event."

Akiko Ikuina of the Foreign Ministry, a representative of the Japanese government, the governor of Niigata Prefecture Hanazumi Hideyo, and Mayor of Sado City Watanabe were on the list of participants.

Ikuina, a former member of a famous girl group in the 1980s, visited Yasukuni shrine on August 15, 2022, shortly after winning the upper house of parliament, and has emphasized Korea's concessions on conflicts between Korea and Japan, including Japanese Military Sexual Slavery and forced conscription.

Korean bereaved families and Ambassador Park Chul-hee to Japan, who have already arrived in Japan, are expected to hold their own memorial service tomorrow (25th) and inspect the Sado Mine facility.

The Japanese Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony Executive Committee will hold a memorial service at 1 p.m. today at the Aikawa Development Center in Sado City, west of Sado Island.

The event will be held in the order of silent tribute, eulogy, and offerings, and eulogy will read only Japanese greetings due to the absence of Korea.

The Japanese government promised to hold a memorial event for all workers at the Sado mine every year to obtain South Korea's consent when it was listed as a World Heritage Site in July.

However, the two governments have been at odds with each other over the name, schedule, and central government participants during the consultation process over the memorial service.

The Sado mine was used as a gold mine during the Edo period (1603-1867) and has been used as a mine to secure copper and other war supplies since the Pacific War began in earnest.

At this time, colonial Koreans were forcibly mobilized and had to work discriminated against in harsh environments.

According to historical researcher Takeuchi Yasto, the number of Koreans mobilized in the Sado mine exceeds 1,500.