North Korea Foreign Ministry: "Japan's Sado Mine is a Crime Scene... Cannot Become a World Heritage Site"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Japan's push to register Sado Mine, a forced labor site for Koreans during the Japanese colonial period, as a UNESCO World Heritage site, calling it "a symbol of human living hell."

On the 12th, the Ministry posted an article titled "Can a Forced Labor Camp and Murder Site Become a World Heritage?" on its website, authored by researcher Cha Hye-kyung from the Japan Research Institute, expressing this view.

The Ministry pointed out, "Regarding Sado Mine, which has been managed and operated as one of the leading gold production sites since the Edo period, it is, like Hashima Coal Mine, known as a symbol of human living hell among our people and Japanese alike due to its harsh living conditions and labor environment, the murderous labor demands imposed on Korean workers, and severe ethnic discrimination that persist to this day."

The Ministry criticized Japan for failing to properly document the forced labor of Koreans at Hashima Coal Mine, which is already registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, emphasizing, "We cannot help but be appalled by Japan's shamelessness and moral baseness in attempting to present the product of colonial occupation and a crime scene as 'cultural heritage' once again to the world and modern civilization."

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