The Japanese government has published a World Heritage guidebook that leaves out historical wrongdoing. Contrary to its official pledge when registering the country's modern industrial sites as World Heritage, it is not properly informing readers that Koreans were subjected to forced labor.
According to Yonhap News and Kyodo News on the 14th, a guidebook introducing World Heritage sites in Japan has been published to mark the 75th anniversary of Japan's membership in UNESCO and is now being sold at bookstores across Japan. Titled "A trip around Japan's UNESCO World Heritage listed sites," the booklet was published as part of a commemorative project promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, with production support from local governments related to World Heritage.
The booklet covers a total of 26 cultural and natural heritage properties, excluding Nara Prefecture's "Asuka-Fujiwara ancient capitals," which were inscribed at the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee in July. In introducing the areas that include "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution" (inscribed in 2015), which contain Korean forced labor sites, and Sado gold mine (inscribed in 2024), it does not mention historical issues at all.
Instead, the booklet highlights Sado gold mine as Japan's largest gold producer that supported the Edo shogunate, saying that in the 17th century the gold mined there accounted for about 10% of the world's gold, emphasizing its fame as a gold mine in the Edo period. This reads as the same strategy the Japanese government took while pushing to have Sado gold mine inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. At the time, the Japanese government was criticized for focusing only on the Edo period, which could sidestep historical issues, rather than the full history that includes Japanese colonial rule.
After the Pacific War intensified, Sado gold mine was used mainly to secure war materials such as copper, iron, and zinc. More than 1,000 Koreans were forcibly mobilized for labor then. However, the book only notes that "models of artisans working inside the mine galleries are on display," which is interpreted as erasing Korean laborers as the main actors in the mine's work and highlighting Japanese skilled workers. In particular, by adding the explanation, "The work was harsh, but they were being paid very high wages at the time," it also diluted the fact that Koreans who were brought by force were not properly paid.
The Japanese government officially pledged, around the time the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution," which include Hashima Island, were inscribed as World Heritage, to explain the forced mobilization of Koreans during Japanese colonial rule, but it has not kept that promise. In fact, the Industrial Heritage Information Center, which opened in Tokyo in 2020, was filled not with information about Korean mobilization but with content showcasing Japan's industrialization and excellence.
Earlier, in July, the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee adopted a decision urging improvement because the Japanese government failed to properly inform the public about the fact that Koreans were subjected to forced labor, contrary to what it pledged when Sado gold mine was inscribed as World Heritage.
Meanwhile, the Korean government, in response to Japan reneging on its promises to the international community after the World Heritage inscriptions of the Meiji industrial revolution sites and Sado gold mine, has held memorial services for the victims separately from Japan for three consecutive years since Sado gold mine's inscription.