Japan forced about 1,500 Koreans to labor in mines under brutal conditions during World War II. In a ceremony on Monday, South Korea remembered those forced laborers. The tribute came a day after the country boycotted a similar event organized by Japan.
Monday’s ceremony took place near gold mines on Sado Island. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry organized the event. Nine family members of Korean wartime laborers attended. The country’s ambassador to Japan and other officials also made appearances.
In a short speech, Ambassador Park Choel-hee offered sympathy to the forced laborers and their families. He said South Korea and Japan should both try to remember the painful wartime history.
“We will never forget the tears and sacrifices of the Korean workers behind the history of the Sado mines,” Park said.
The site of South Korea’s memorial was the former Fourth Souai Dormitory. It was one of four dorms for Korean laborers without families. A new sign there reads only, “Workers from the Korean Peninsula lived here during the wartime.”
But Monday’s event wasn’t the first service held at the site. The day before, Japan held a memorial for all workers at the Sado mines. The Japanese government thanked Koreans for their help at the mines. But it didn’t acknowledge their forced labor or issue an apology.
The Sado mines became a UNESCO cultural heritage site in July. Japan agreed to include an exhibit on the conditions of Korean forced laborers. The country also agreed to hold an annual memorial service.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, says that Japan’s event was in line with its pledge to the UNESCO World Heritage committee. He also reports Japan spoke with South Korea beforehand. “It is disappointing that South Korea did not participate,” Hayashi says.
In addition to the signs marking the Korean laborers’ dorms, a city-owned museum in the area also includes a section about Korean laborers. But a private museum attached to the UNESCO site doesn’t mention them at all.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry boycotted the Japan-organized memorial. That’s because the ministry expected the Japanese government speech would fall short of the agreement between the two sides.
Holding a separate memorial was an expression of “our government’s firm resolve not to make a compromise with Japan on history issues,” the ministry says.
Japan’s ceremony was supposed to mend wounds between the two countries. Instead, it likely caused further injury.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. — Ephesians 4:31
