On the 13th, Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yeol dismissed claims from some quarters that the Korean government had “abandoned the coercion” amid the listing of Japan’s Sado Mine, where forced labor by Koreans took place during the Japanese colonial period, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Minister Cho attended a plenary session of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee that afternoon and responded to People Power Party lawmaker Kim Tae-ho’s remark that “some are saying this is a historic coup, humiliating diplomacy, and a retreating measure,” stating, “They are criticizing us for giving up coercion, but we have not given up coercion.”
Minister Cho emphasized, “From the beginning of the negotiations, we will negotiate with the agreement we reached in 2015 as the minimum. We sat down at the negotiating table with Japan after making it clear that retreating from there is a non-starter and that there is no way to advance the negotiations.”
Minister Cho answered “yes” to Rep. Kim’s question, “Although there is no word ‘mandatory,’ has it been practically recognized in terms of content?”
Minister Cho said, “I am proud to say that we have made progress in terms of securing implementation measures,” when asked whether he believed there had been progress since the so-called “Battleship Island” incident in 2015.
The World Heritage Committee (WHC) decided to register Sado Mine as a World Heritage Site at the 46th UNESCO General Assembly held in New Delhi, India on the 28th of last month.
This is the result of a consensus (unanimous agreement) being reached in the relevant procedures, with Japan accepting Korea’s demand to “reflect the entire history” and Korea also agreeing to the listing.
Japan also promised additional measures, such as installing exhibits at the Aikawa Local Museum in Kitazawa, about 2 km from the Sado mine, and holding an annual memorial service for the workers.
However, various interpretations are being raised regarding the fact that Japan, which had a history of not fulfilling its ‘battleship promise’ in 2015, did not explicitly state ‘enforcement’ this time.
Some point out that this is a step backwards compared to the Japanese use of the expression “forced to work” when “Gunkanjima” and other sites were registered as World Heritage sites in 2015.
(Seoul = News 1)
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2024-08-14 06:20:10