Japan to push controversial mine for UNESCO World Heritage

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says Japan will recommend a former gold mine on Sado Island for a UNESCO World Heritage list despite protests from South Korea that the site is inappropriate because of its wartime abuse of Korean laborers. Kishida’s decision to nominate the 400-year-old northern Japan site apparently follows a strong push by powerful ultra-rightwing historical revisionists in his governing party. Relations between Tokyo and Seoul have been strained by disputes stemming from Japan’s wartime sexual abuse of Korean women and use of forced laborers. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed strong regret over the Japanese decision. Historians say Japan used hundreds of thousands of Korean laborers to make up for labor shortages during the war.