Foreign minister voices regret, vows to take responsibility for Sado mines controversy

Seoul to call on Tokyo to make sincere efforts to honor wartime forced laborers

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said Thursday that he takes full responsibility for a dispute surrounding Japan’s Sado mines memorial ceremony and added that the government will urge Japan to hold a sincere memorial next year to honor Korean forced laborers from the wartime period.

He made the remarks during a parliamentary plenary meeting after facing intense questioning from lawmakers over the government’s diplomatic failure to address Japan’s lack of commitment to honoring Korean forced labor victims at the Sado mines memorial service.

“I take full responsibility for how things have turned out. We will continue to monitor Japan’s compliance with recommendations on Sado mines (which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage in July). Separately, we have expressed regret to the U.N. cultural agency,” Cho said.

Holding a memorial ceremony was a condition for Seoul’s approval of the Sado mines’ inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The minister said disagreement over the content of the ceremony’s speech was the main reason behind Seoul’s boycott of Sunday’s memorial event organized by Japan. Earlier, Korea’s foreign ministry cited “irreconcilable disagreements” between the two governments as the reason they could not reach an agreement in time for the event.

“The content of the memorial ceremony’s speech regarding references to Korean forced laborers at Sado mines fell short of our expectations,” Cho said.

As a result, Korea held a separate ceremony on Monday and the government expressed regret to Japan over the way Tokyo handled the memorial ceremony without reflecting the full history of the mine complex, where hundreds of Koreans were forced to work under brutal conditions during World War II, when Korea was under Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.

At a plenary session of the National Assembly’s foreign affairs and unification committee, opposition lawmakers bombarded Cho with questions about why the government was not more proactive in responding to Japan’s failure to acknowledge and express remorse for the forced labor victims of the Sado mines.

“Sunday’s ceremony looked like a memorial service on the surface, but it turned out to be a celebration of the mines’ addition to the UNESCO World Heritage list. This clearly reflects a failed negotiation between Korea and Japan,” Rep. Han Jeoung-ae of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said.

Ruling People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers also expressed deep regret and disappointment over Tokyo’s attitude toward the memorial service.

“We were caught off guard by Japan for the second time following the dispute over Japan’s Hashima Island. That’s because we relied too heavily on Japans’ good will. On issues regarding history, Japan chose to spill a glass half filled by us,” Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the PPP said.

Earlier in the day, Japanese media reported that Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru may visit Korea next January for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol. Next year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, a significant milestone in the history of both countries.

The presidential office, however, said the visit has not been decided yet. “Nothing has been finalized. The two leaders have agreed to continue advancing shuttle diplomacy,” Yoon’s office said.

Yoon and Ishiba held meetings in October and November on the sidelines of multilateral summits in Laos and Peru, respectively, where they discussed strengthening bilateral ties.

However, it remains to be seen how the two leaders will achieve a diplomatic breakthrough amid growing tensions following the recent controversy over the Sado mines.