Sado mine-memorial

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will hold a separate memorial ceremony next week for Korean victims of wartime forced labor at the Sado mine complex in Japan, amid Japan's continued failure to acknowledge the coercive nature of the mobilization of Korean workers, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The ceremony will take place in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, on Nov. 13, with South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Hyuk, who will represent the government, and nine family members of the victims expected to attend, foreign ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon told a regular press briefing.

Following the ceremony, participants will visit the site of a dormitory for Korean workers to lay flowers and pay tribute at other major sites associated with Korean workers, Park added.

It will mark the third consecutive year that South Korea has held a separate ceremony from Japan's, following disagreements over how to address the forced labor of Korean workers.

The Japanese government held its own memorial ceremony in September, with a director general-level official from its foreign ministry representing the government, but made no mention of the forced labor of Koreans.

Holding an annual memorial ceremony for the victims was part of Japan's pledge as it sought South Korea's cooperation for the Sado mine complex's inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list in July 2024. Seoul had called on Tokyo to reflect the site's entire history, including the forced labor of Koreans.

Tokyo, however, has declined to acknowledge the coercive nature of the mobilization of Korean workers since preparations for the first ceremony in 2024, prompting South Korea to hold its own separate ceremony each year.

The issue has also been addressed by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, which in a decision adopted in July 2026 called on Japan to further clarify how the Sado mine's interpretation and presentation reflect the site's "whole history," which includes the period of forced mobilization of Korean workers.

The committee also urged Japan to submit a follow-up implementation report by December 2027.

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