Will the Forced Labor Site 'Sado Mine' of Koreans Be Registered as a World Heritage Site?... Unofficial On-Site Investigation Underway

A tunnel built since the Meiji era at Aikawa Gold and Silver Mine, representing Sado Mine.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

UNESCO advisory body recently visited Japan to conduct an on-site investigation for the World Heritage listing review of Sado Mine. Sado Mine is a mine located on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and was a site of forced labor for Koreans.

According to Kyodo News on the 31st, officials from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a UNESCO advisory body, visited Sado Mine from the 24th to the 30th to inspect the condition of the site and its management. The council expressed to the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs their desire to focus on the investigation in a quiet environment, so the process was conducted privately.

At a press conference that day, Kohei Okawa, Director of the International Cooperation Office for Cultural Heritage at the Agency for Cultural Affairs, said, "We were able to gain an understanding of the schedule," and added, "We will continue to cooperate with related organizations and strive for the (World Heritage) listing."

The Japanese government submitted the application for the World Heritage listing of Sado Mine in February last year. In January, they supplemented the documents and resubmitted the application.

Based on the results of this investigation, the council plans to recommend to UNESCO whether to list the site in the spring of next year. The World Heritage Committee is scheduled to decide on the listing around the summer of next year.

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