뉴스레터

Beginning of ‘War of History’

Until the night of January 27, the situation did not seem too grim. Some experts said that the trend in Japanese politics seemed serious, but many expressed their doubts. Mor importantly, there was an article on 『Yomiuri Shimbun』 a week ago that the submission of a recommendation letter for the inscription of the Sado Mines would be put on hold. Yomiuri's report, which was based on the interviews with ‘multiple government officials,’ seemed entirely credible.

However, the Japanese government's decision was to go ahead with the inscription. On January 28, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced his intention to recommend the Sado Mines as a World Heritage Site during a meeting with reporters. Finally, on February 1, the Japanese government submitted a recommendation letter for the inscription to the UNESCO World Heritage Center in Paris, France.

The mood between Korea and Japan took a rapid downturn. It seemed that a ‘war without gunfire’ had begun. On January 26, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrote on his social media account, "For they waged the war of history on us, we must respond." It was like a provocation claiming that Korea challenged Japan first and Japan had no choice but to fight back. Many commentators analyzed that this mood, instigated by Abe’s faction, may have changed the policy direction of the Kishida administration.

Combat Forces of the Two Nations: Task Forces

On the day of submitting the letter of recommendation, the Japanese government held its first task force (TF) meeting for the inscription of the Sado Mines. The task force meeting, headed by Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Shigeki Takizaki, was attended by heads of related departments such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs. It is said that they discussed a plan to ‘cope with the issue beyond government ministries to achieve the inscription’ in the future.

The Korean government did not turn away from this issue. On Friday, February 4, a director-level task force meeting headed by Public Diplomacy Ambassador Lee Sang-hwa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was held with the participation of several related ministries and institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Public Administration and Security, Ministry of Education, Cultural Heritage Administration, National Archives, and the Northeast Asian History Foundation, as well as experts in the private sector. Since there is a precedent where Japan’s modern industrial heritage, such as “Battleship Island (Hashima),” had already been registered as a World Heritage site in 2015 despite opposition from Korea, the Korean government responded with even greater determination. The specifics of the task force meeting were not disclosed, but it is known that they discussed policies to respond to Japan's argument and logic in various ways.

In line with the government’s task force, the foundation also started conducting research to counter the Japanese government's inscription attempt. The foundation will carry out academic research and policy-based responses regarding the remains related to forced mobilization and labor including the Sado Mines rather than limiting the issue to the submission of the recommendation letter for inscription this time.

But is This Something to Fight Over?

There is one thing to point out before the full-scale ‘battle.’ It is whether there was a reason for the conflict between the two countries over the Sado Mines to escalate to such a dispute. At the outset, the World Heritage system was initiated based on the idea that it is ‘important for all peoples of the world’ to preserve and protect heritage from the threat of destruction ‘regardless of which people it belongs’ if it is worthy of being ‘preserved as part of the world heritage of the whole humanity.’ (Preamble of the World Heritage Convention, November 16, 1972)

If the Sado Mines in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, is valuable as a World Heritage Site, there is no reason to prevent its inscription. Instead, we must strive as a member of the human race to properly preserve the heritage that is so valuable so that valuable relics can be well preserved. However, if the remains of the Sado Mines are not valuable enough to be preserved as a World Heritage Site for all humankind, it should not be inscribed on the World Heritage Site List. Above all, if it was a place involved with the colonization of a nearby country and inflicting damages on the people of the colony by forcibly mobilizing them to the war of aggression, it must never be recognized to have a value that all of humanity should preserve.

It is not a subject of a fight if the Japanese government intends to inscribe sites of ‘universal value’ that can be recognized by ‘the whole humanity,’ including citizens of neighboring countries, as World Heritage Sites. Japan must clearly prove that the Sado Mines is a site that is consistent with the original objective of World Heritage Sites.

Whose History does the Sado Mines belong to?

It was 2010 when the Sado Mines was first listed as a tentative candidate as a World Heritage. Since then, Niigata Prefecture has tried several times to make Sado Mine a domestic candidate. However, it was less recognized each time than other remains. Up to this point, Niigata Prefecture has been promoting the registration of the World Heritage Site for the “entire history” of the Sado Mines.

However, the Japanese government played a trick of limiting the time frame to the pre-Meiji Period only, omitting the history of the specific period for which Korea raised the issue, when promoting the Sado Mines as a candidate. The World Heritage Committee repeatedly requested Japan to correct their attempt to intentionally exclude the periods of negative facts that they are not comfortable with. The Japanese government’s stance is that the Sado Mines have enough value as a World Heritage Site even when the value is assessed for the period before that of the Meiji Period. In reality, however, most of the facilities in the mines are from the modern era. Also, the history of damages inflicted on Korean laborers is smeared into the facilities. The Koreans, who were forcibly mobilized for labor because they were colonialized people, should be remembered all across the large mine remains, including the blind end of the mine gallery in darkness, crushing site and floating dressing plant remaining in Sado Island.

The history of the Sado Mines, which the Japanese government ignores, includes the history of colonial Korea and Korean laborers. This is the history of the Korean nation, and it is also Korea’s modern history. It is not only the history of its own remains that the Japanese government is distorting to go ahead with the inscription. It is a distortion of Korean history and furthermore, a deception to the World Heritage value.