100,000 Signatures Opposing Japan's Sado Mine World Heritage Listing Delivered to UNESCO

Professor Seokyeongdeok of Sungshin Women's University Delivers 100,000 Signatures to UNESCO and Others

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Je-hoon] A petition with 100,000 signatures opposing the registration of the Sado (佐渡) Mine in Japan, a site of forced mobilization of Koreans during the Japanese colonial period, as a UNESCO World Heritage site has been submitted to UNESCO.

Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women's University stated on his Facebook on the 7th, "Over the past month, about 100,000 people, including domestic netizens, overseas Koreans, and international students, participated in this online petition campaign. The petition results and a letter regarding the Sado Mine were sent via email," he said.

According to Professor Seo, the petition was delivered to the UNESCO Secretary-General, the Director of the World Heritage Centre, UNESCO's approximately 190 member countries, the 21 member countries of the World Heritage Committee, and all member countries of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

He explained, "We wanted to properly inform UNESCO about the Japanese government's trickery of seeking World Heritage registration while hiding the history of forced mobilization as a perpetrator. We also exposed the Japanese government's double standards for not yet fulfilling its promise to reveal forced labor by citing the example of Hashima (Gunkanjima)."

Professor Seo also emphasized, "We hope that UNESCO will no longer be deceived by Japan's historical distortion and will make a wise decision in line with UNESCO's universal values this time." He added, "We plan to continuously raise awareness of the issues surrounding the Sado Mine in the international community through advertisements in major global media, production of multilingual videos, and worldwide distribution."

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