Forced Labor Denial by Japan on Gunkanjima... Minister Kang Kyung-wha Sends Letter to UNESCO Requesting "Cooperation Including Review of Delisting"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha sent a letter to UNESCO requesting cooperation, including the possibility of cancellation, regarding the Japanese government's failure to fulfill its promise to transparently record the forced labor under Japanese colonial rule when registering the Meiji Industrial Revolution Sites as a World Cultural Heritage.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kim In-chul explained at a regular briefing on the 23rd, "On the 22nd, Minister Kang Kyung-wha sent a letter to the UNESCO Director-General, actively requesting cooperation and support so that a resolution urging Japan to faithfully implement follow-up measures, including reviewing the possibility of cancellation of the registration, can be adopted at the World Heritage Committee."

Spokesperson Kim added, "We previously issued a statement regarding Japan's failure to fulfill its promise concerning the publicly accessible Japan Industrial Heritage Information Center," and "In this regard, the government plans to explore all possible measures to ensure that Japan faithfully carries out the follow-up actions it promised through the adoption of a resolution at the 44th World Heritage Committee."

On the 15th, Japan opened an exhibition facility within the Industrial Heritage Information Center in Tokyo that contained only content denying the facts of forced mobilization. Japan initially promised to record all facts of forced mobilization under Japanese colonial rule when registering 23 modern industrial sites, including Gunkanjima, as World Cultural Heritage, but ultimately did not fulfill this promise.

Earlier, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo and Administrator of the Cultural Heritage Administration Jeong Jae-sook recently sent a letter to UNESCO requesting the cancellation of the registration.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.