Get your ticket to GaijinPot Expo 2024
South Korea paid tribute to wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines in a memorial ceremony on Monday, a day after boycotting a similar event organized by Japan, as tensions over historical atrocities continue to impact relations between the two sides.
Monday's ceremony at a former dormitory near the 16th century Sado mines, which were listed this summer as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was organized by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry and attended by nine families of Korean wartime laborers, the country’s ambassador to Japan and other officials.
Japan on Sunday held a memorial service for all workers at the Sado mines, including Koreans. It thanked them for their contributions at the mines but did not acknowledge their forced labor or issue an apology.
At the Korean-sponsored memorial on Monday, participants in dark suits observed a moment of silence and offered white chrysanthemums in honor of the South Korean laborers, along with offerings such as dried fish, sliced apple and pears.
In a short speech, South Korea's Ambassador to Japan Park Choel-hee offered his condolences to the forced laborers and their families, expressing hopes that the memorial would bring comfort to families. He said South Korea and Japan should both make efforts to ensure that the painful wartime history is remembered.
“We will never forget the tears and sacrifices of the Korean workers behind the history of the Sado mines,” Park said.
“I sincerely hope that today will be a day of remembrance for all the Korean workers who suffered indescribable pain under harsh conditions, and that this memorial service will bring comfort to the souls of the deceased Korean workers and their bereaved families,” Park added.
At the mines, about 1,500 Koreans were forced to labor under abusive and brutal conditions during World War II, historians say.
Sunday’s ceremony, which was supposed to further mend wounds, renewed tensions between the two sides. South Korea announced Saturday its decision to not attend the Japanese-organized ceremony, citing unspecified disagreements with Tokyo over the event.
There was speculation that the South Korean boycott was related to parliamentary vice minister Akiko Ikuina's attendance at Sunday’s ceremony.
Ikuina reportedly visited Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine in August 2022, weeks after she was elected as a lawmaker. Japan’s neighbors view Yasukuni, which commemorates 2.5 million war dead, including war criminals, as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.
The Sado mines were registered as a UNESCO cultural heritage site in July after Japan agreed to include an exhibit on the conditions of Korean forced laborers and to hold a memorial service annually, after repeated protests from the South Korean government.
Signs, including one at the site where South Koreans held their ceremony, have been erected indicating former sites of Korean laborers’ dormitories. A city-operated museum in the area also added a section about Korean laborers, but a private museum attached to the main UNESCO site doesn’t mention them at all.
The site of South Korea's memorial was the former Fourth Souai Dormitory, one of four dorms for Korean laborers without families. A newly erected sign there reads, “Workers from the Korean Peninsula lived here during the wartime.”
On Saturday, the families visited a former housing site where Korean laborers lived. They also briefly saw the city-run museum and an exhibit on the Korean laborers as they listened to explanations through a translator.
© Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
16 Comments
dagon
Imagine if the people who labored under the sign of "Arbeit macht frei" were 'thanked for their contribution'.
Micro Tokyo call
That's an odd thing to say, isn't it? Why would you thank people for being enslaved, tortured, and murdered?
Instead, the Germans apologised to the victims and their families, which is what Japan should be doing to those enslaved in the mines on Sado Island, rather than thanking them. How cold and heartless can you get?!
'Hey, thanks for being forced to work for us as slaves'. WTF?!
Daniel Neagari
To the first two commentors.... I don't know maybe is the culture and I don't see that is bad.
But then again, everything has to be measured and judge by occidental point of view? White saviour thing is strong i see
kennyG
All workers does mean ALL, including ethnic Korean-Japanese. They WERE Japanese then. Did not acknowledge what? They were not forced labor, but paid labor based on the contract that they signed on their own will. Their salary was paid into their individual accounts during the contract for sure. Right after the end of war, for all of those who failed to repatriate, whether they dead or alive, the total sum of their accumulated salary was fairly paid out in the 1965 agreement.
dagon
You may be white Daniel-san, not me.
I see human beings who were separated from their families, forced to work in inhuman conditions and endured immense suffering to enrich some sociopathic predators.
How about you?
dido
tut tut, trying to rewrite history are we Kenny?
They were given a pittance no different to what prisoners receive.
The wages were largely symbolic and did not compensate for the harsh conditions and exploitation they endured.
The whole purpose of the forced labor system was to extract wealth and resources for the Japanese Empire, rather than provide fair compensation to the Korean workers.
dido
This is also totally false, I'm afraid, and easily verifiable with a quick search.
The Koreans who were forced to work in the Sado Island mines did not receive compensation in 1995. The Asian Women's Fund, established in that year, focused on providing compensation to the victims of sexual slavery, or "comfort women," during World War II not for the slave labour.
They have never received a cent or so much as a recognition of their slaervry by the Jp govt let alone compensation or an apology.
kennyG
1965 Not 1995. OK man? Besides AWF is about CW, nothing to do with Sado island mines.
Daniel Neagari
@dagon
now are you profiling me because of my name?...
Do you know what was the composition of korean and japanese workers in those mines? Yes Koreans were forced labored but so did several Japanese too.
And a slight difference between Auschwitz-Birkenau and Sado mines, Auschwitz was a death camp the industrialization of killing. Sado mines were the willingful nigletness of producing.
Both cases a lot of people died but in one it was really producing something and the killing was by far not the main objective.
Those people who gave their lives not willingly, but those efforts regardless made a contribution. I fail to see why you are not allow to regret that happened and at the same time be grateful for their unwilling sacrifice.
dagon
Grateful for their unwilling contribution and sacrifice.
I see. I have to say that those mental gymnastics are beyond me.
Allow me to say that your moral compass needs some adjusting.
Micro Tokyo call
No, the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and South Korea did not provide direct compensation to individual Korean forced laborers either, including those who worked in the Sado Island mines
dido
Sure, here you go:
Books and Articles:
"Japan's Wartime Empire, 1931-1945"
Edited by Peter Duus, Ramon H. Myers, and Mark R. Peattie
This collection examines Japan’s wartime policies, including the exploitation of forced laborers from Korea. It provides a context for understanding forced labor in Japan’s war economy.
"The Forced Labor of Koreans under Japanese Rule"
By Soon-Won Park
This work highlights the experiences of Korean forced laborers, including mistreatment and abuses during Japan’s occupation of Korea.
"Silent Memories, Traumatic Lives: Korean Forced Laborers under Japanese Rule"
By Hyung Gu Lynn
This study discusses the physical and psychological toll of forced labor on Korean workers, with a focus on industrial sites, including mines.
"Troubled Apologies Among Japan, Korea, and the United States"
By Alexis Dudden
This book explores historical accountability, focusing on forced labor and the broader atrocities Koreans faced under Japanese imperialism.
"From Osaka to Sado: Mapping Korea-Japan Forced Labor"
By Tessa Morris-Suzuki (Journal Article)
This article discusses forced labor flows, specifically mentioning labor in industrial and mining regions such as Sado Island.
Historians and Scholars:
Tessa Morris-Suzuki
A prominent historian of Japan and Korea, her works often highlight forced labor and the abuses suffered by Korean workers during Japan's imperial period.
Alexis Dudden
An expert in East Asian history, Dudden has extensively covered Japan's colonial rule over Korea, including forced labor practices.
Mark Selden
His research often discusses Japan’s wartime economy, including the exploitation of forced laborers in industrial settings.
Hyung Gu Lynn
A scholar specializing in Korean-Japanese relations, Lynn has documented the lived experiences of Korean forced laborers.
Hiroshi Tanaka
A Japanese historian who has written extensively about Japan’s wartime forced labor policies and their impact on Koreans.
Primary Sources and Testimonies:
Testimonies from surviving forced laborers:
Recorded in various projects, such as the Truth-Seeking Committee for Forced Labor Victims in South Korea, testimonies detail abuses, harsh working conditions, and deaths.
Reports by South Korea’s National Archives:
South Korea has declassified documents and reports about forced laborers, including their experiences on Sado Island and elsewhere.
Institutional Reports:
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Report (1994)
Discusses Japan's wartime responsibility, including forced labor and its human rights violations.
The Korean Forced Labor History Museum (Gwangju, South Korea)
Features research and exhibits on Korean forced labor during Japan’s colonial period, including mining sites like Sado Island.
kennyG
Read 1965 treaty again and come back
dido
Seriously, where are you getting your facts from, Ken?!
This information is widely available and well-established as fact in books and papers and on the internet, and there is no dispute since it is all written down!
The Jp government gave a lump sum to the South Korean government with no mention of a direct payment to forced labour on Sado Island. There is no two ways about it bud.
Could you let me know where your proof is?! I have given you mine.
kennyG
Wow. what a paraid of those infamous one-sided ignorant authors. I wanna ask you whta Alexis Dadden doing these days ? these days? She retirred or what? those mess that Korean academic itself critisizing anti-Japan movements and Chong-Dae-Hyup and all thoese lies ? Haven't you learnt anything? They can LIE. All of living CW carefully selected by ChongDae Hyup LIED. It is just EASY for THEM to LIE. Challenge those Korean academic before comming to me.
itsonlyrocknroll
The tragedy solely rests with a post war Korea government, then one of the world's poorest, in desperation, in need to revitalize, to then sign a treaty that for a sum provided the means to propel over the decades a South Korea 2024 to the world's 14th-largest economy
Agreement on the settlement of problems concerning property and claims and on economic co-operation (with Protocols, exchanges of notes and agreed minutes). Signed at Tokyo, on 22 June 1965
https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20583/volume-583-I-8473-English.pdf
However there was a price, that South Korea political chattering classes have refused to acknowledge the political consequences.
The slow poisonous toxicity from the unquenching need desire for revenge, for the complete humiliation of the people of 21st century peace loving Japan to forever be held in punitive retribution from the histrionics of an era of brutal imperialism.
The South Korean nation people will first need to forgive themselves, government for the failure to fully comprehend recognise past signatures to such Treaties could have consequences.
Join with the people of Japan and find a unified response for a future of reconciliation.
Politicians from both movements/government have failed you.
This article is proof enough.