Japan "Sado Mine World Heritage Deferred... Request for Additional Materials"

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body to UNESCO, recommended a "deferral" regarding the inscription of Sado Mine, a site of forced labor of Koreans during the Japanese colonial period, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs announced on the 6th.

Sado Mine tunnel constructed since the Meiji era.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

A deferral means that some documents are incomplete and additional materials are requested; if the materials are supplemented, there is a high possibility of inscription at the meeting held in the current or following year.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs added that ICOMOS requested the submission of additional materials while recommending the deferral.

ICOMOS, composed of experts from various fields, decides on one of four recommendations for the nomination under review: recommendation for inscription, deferral, rejection, or non-inscription, based on document review and on-site inspection.

The ICOMOS recommendation will be an important basis for member countries to decide on the final inscription of Sado Mine as a World Heritage Site at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting to be held in New Delhi, India, at the end of July.

Sado Mine was famous as a gold mine during the Edo period, but after the Pacific War intensified, it was mainly used as a mine to secure war materials such as copper, iron, and zinc. The Japanese government has been criticized for deliberately excluding the forced labor of Koreans by limiting the heritage period to the 16th to mid-19th century while promoting the inscription of Sado Mine as a World Heritage Site.

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