Statement: The Japanese government's denial of the history of forced labour will once again bring international shame upon itself

 Here is an English translation of the statement by the Center for Historical Truth and Justice that we previously posted. The translation of the Japanese version was automatically done by Deepl, with modification by Satoko Oka Norimatsu, Director of Peace Philosophy Centre. Please note that we may further modify the translation later. 前の投稿で紹介した民族問題研究所による声明日本語版の Deepl による自動英訳に乗松聡子が手を入れたものです。投稿後にさらに翻訳を修正する可能性があることをご承知ください。

<Statement denouncing the Japanese government's promotion of the Sado Island Mine as a UNESCO World Heritage Site>

 

The Japanese government's denial of the history of forced labour will once again bring international shame upon itself

 

On 28 January, the Japanese government announced that it would promote the Sado Island Mine as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Center for Historical Truth and Justice strongly condemns the Japanese government's attempt for the inscription of the Sado Island Mine as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by hiding the obvious historical fact of the forced mobilisation of Koreans, and warns that if the Japanese government persists in its denial of history, it will once again face international embarrassment and will not be able to achieve the inscription of the Sado Island Mine as a World Heritage Site. 

In 2015, at the time of the inscription of the "Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining" (hereinafter referred to as Meiji Industrial Heritage) at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the Japanese government promised to explain the "full history" of the Meiji Industrial Heritage, including the forced labour of Koreans. However, instead of keeping its promise, the Japanese government has insulted the victims by denying the forced labour through the exhibition at the Industrial Heritage Information Centre, and has deceived the international community by history denial, such as thoroughly hiding the facts of forced labour of Chinese people and Allied Prisoners of War.

At its 44th session in July 2021, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee noted the failure of the Japanese Government to fully implement the decision of the World Heritage Committee (39 COM 8B.14 & 42 COM 7B.10), and, uncharacteristically expressing its "strong regret," adopted the resolution (44 COM 7B.Add2) that the Japanese Government should adopt a strategy to interpret "the full history," including the history of forced mobilisation. The World Heritage Committee's resolution is significant in that it makes clear that the international community will not tolerate the Japanese government's denial of history any longer.

The historical fact that the Sado Island Mine was a site of the forced mobilization of Koreans has already been revealed by citizens of Japan who have long been making efforts to get to the bottom of the forced mobilization there, and in 1992, Japanese citizens invited victims of the forced mobilization to Sado Island for a testimonial meeting. The official history of the town of Aikawa in Niigata Prefecture, to which the Sado Mine belongs, also records the historical facts of the forced mobilisation of Koreans, and according to what has been revealed so far, more than 1,500 Koreans were mobilised. The history of forced mobilisation cannot be covered by the Japanese government's ignoring it as "Korea's own claim."

At the time of the inscription of the Meiji Industrial Heritage Site, the Japanese government tried to hide the history of forced labour by limiting the application to the Meiji period, but it could not avoid the decision of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to "interpret the full history." This time, too, the Japanese government is trying to hide the history of forced labour by limiting the applicable period for Sado Island Mine inscription as a World Heritage Site from the end of the Warring States Era to the Edo Era. This attempt by the Japanese government to distort history in such a way as to cover the heavens with the palm of its hand is an international embarrassment and will ultimately prevent Sado Island Mine from being inscribed as a World Heritage Site.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other far-right forces in Japan have been inciting conflict over historical facts in order to use the World Heritage Site as a tool for domestic politics. The Kishida administration's attempt to deny history by bowing to Abe's pressure and promoting the inscription of the Sado Island Mine on the World Heritage List is an insult to the victims of the Sado Island Mine and to the citizens of Japan and Korea who have worked hard to investigate the history of forced mobilisation. The Japanese far-right's attempt to use the World Heritage Site as a tool for narrow-minded nationalism is a direct challenge to the spirit of UNESCO, which aims to cultivate a universal spirit of peace and respect for human rights, and is an act that will isolate Japan from the international community.

Since 2015, when the Meiji Industrial Heritage was inscribed as a World Heritage Site, the Center for Historical Truth and Justice has been working in solidarity with Japanese civil society to urge the Japanese government to document the history of forced labour and to clarify the reality of forced mobilisation. In response to the move towards the UNESCO inscription of the Sado Island Mine, we will continue to work in solidarity with Japanese civil society and the international community to restore the human rights of the victims and to investigate the truth.

January 28, 2022

The Center for Historical Truth and Justice 

See HERE for the original statement in Korean. 

See HERE for the Japanese version of the statement.