Seoul marks forced Korean War labor victims in ceremony separate from Japan

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) — South Korea on Friday commemorated Korean victims forced into labor at a gold and silver mine complex during World War II, holding a ceremony independent of Japan for the second year in a row, according to Yonhap News.

Seoul and Tokyo have been unable to agree on how to acknowledge the workers’ suffering and the coercive nature of the wartime labor, leading South Korea to maintain a separate memorial service from the one Japan held in September.

Friday’s ceremony, organized by the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo and held at a hotel on Sado Island in Japan’s Niigata prefecture, was attended by 11 family members of the victims.

"More than 80 years ago, many Korean workers were brought here to Sado Island against their will through recruitment or conscription under the involvement of the Japanese governor-general of Korea and were forced to toil under harsh conditions," South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Hyuk said in a speech.

"Reflecting on the pain of the past and sharing this act of remembrance will deepen our sense of empathy and healing," he added.

Japan pledged to hold an annual memorial after the Sado mines were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2024.

The first ceremony, however, became a diplomatic flashpoint when South Korean officials withdrew at the last moment, citing Japan’s choice of representative and the wording of its speech, which omitted explicit references to coerced labor.

Located off Japan’s northern coast, the Sado mines were once the world’s largest gold producer and operated for nearly 400 years before closing in 1989.

Many Koreans were taken to work at the mines during World War II, when Korea was under Japan’s 1910–45 colonial rule.