South Korea Asks UNESCO to Intervene Over Japan’s Display at World Heritage Site
The crux of this issue is that from Japan’s perspective Japanese citizens during the Imperial era were mobilized to work in industries to support Japan’s war effort. At the time, Imperial Japan considered Koreans as Japanese citizens. The ROK wants special mention that Koreans were discriminated against and forced to work at these sites which the Japanese viewpoint disagrees with. Their viewpoint is that Koreans were mobilized to work just like Japanese in support of the empire:
South Korea on Tuesday called on UNESCO’s heritage oversight body to step in if Japan continues to backtrack on its promise to honor wartime forced labor victims from its UNESCO World Heritage-listed industrial sites.
South Korean Ambassador to UNESCO Bak Sang-mee made the call during a session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) in Paris, about a week after Seoul’s attempt to place the industrial sites on this year’s WHC agenda was blocked by a rare vote among member states, including both South Korea and Japan.
Seoul sought to bring attention to Japan’s lukewarm efforts in implementing WHC recommendations on presenting the full history of the Meiji industrial revolution sites, which were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2015.
One of the sites is Hashima Island, where many Koreans were taken to toil during World War II, when Korea was under Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.
“The case of the site of Japan’s Meiji industrial revolution is notable for the committee’s consistent request through four consecutive decisions for the development of an interpretation strategy that allows for an understanding of the full history of each site,” Bak said. “However, nearly a decade later, its implementation remains insufficient and continues to raise concerns.”
You can read more at the link.
All by the leftys… they’re always the ones upset and can’t move on..
Well, one could also bring up many of the PoW and Internment Camp atrocities against prisoners were committed by Koreans in Japanese uniforms; but the rest of the world, being more mature, saw only the Japanese Empire as responsible.
“We didn’t do it. There were no survivors. And besides we were just following orders,” they claimed. Much like the SS death camp guards at the Nuremburg Trials.
It’s so long ago that everyone on both sides is already dead. Time to forgive, forget, and move on.
This UNESCO grift is sponsored by Beijing — in yet another attempt to separate allies. Bak Sang-mee should be sent back to China in disgrace, sans RoK citizenship. It’s apparently Xi’s paying him. And that’s obviously where his loyalty resides.
Former President Yoon, who professed himself as a MAGA Christian, turned out to be also a follower of the Japanese Shinto god, the raid on his Japanese Shinto shrine in Korea that he set up, revealed.
https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1m1eogh/the_raid_on_yoons_shaman_revealed_a_secret_shrine/
This is how these followers of Southern US Evangelicals typically behave. They are just pure evil people full of shameless contradictions and hypocrisy. But yeah, also not surprising that his family background of his parents and grandparents were that they were collaborators with the Empire of Japan circa 1930.
@setnaffa, this whole issue I think is kind of self created by Japan. Should have never had these industrial sites listed because of the blowback it would receive like we are currently seeing. There is a lot of amazing locations in Japan to apply for UNESCO status, they didn’t need to list a coal mine.