Government Expresses "Regret" Over Japanese Report on Hashima Island Denying Discrimination Against Koreans

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson's Comment, "Follow-up Measures on Japan's Promise"
"Intention to Convey Position to Japan via Diplomatic Channels"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The government expressed regret over Japan's submission to UNESCO of a follow-up implementation progress report containing claims that there was no discrimination against Korean forced laborers at past modern industrial sites.

Im Soo-seok, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated in a commentary on the 13th, "We express regret that the repeated decisions of the World Heritage Committee and the follow-up measures promised by Japan itself have not been faithfully implemented."

He added, "We once again urge Japan to fully refer to the conclusions of the joint investigation report by UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in accordance with the decision of the 44th World Heritage Committee last July, and to faithfully implement the follow-up measures promised by the Japanese side."

When asked at the regular briefing whether the government had conveyed its position to Japan, Spokesperson Im replied, "We plan to convey our government's position to the Japanese side through diplomatic channels as well."

He added, "We will again urge the Japanese side to faithfully implement their existing promises and the decisions of the World Heritage Committee."

Japan had promised to inform about the forced labor of Koreans at the time of the registration of modern industrial sites such as the Hashima coal mine as World Heritage, but the implementation progress report released yesterday by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre repeated claims that there was no discrimination against Koreans.

This has been pointed out as inconsistent with the conclusion of the joint investigation team of UNESCO and ICOMOS, which conducted an on-site inspection of the Tokyo Industrial Heritage Information Centre in June last year and concluded that Japan's interpretation of the "entire history" after 1910 was insufficient.

At the 44th World Heritage Committee in July last year, the decision document also expressed "strong regret" over Japan's management method of World Heritage.

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