{"id":40827,"date":"2024-11-23T15:23:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T09:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/?p=40827"},"modified":"2024-11-23T15:23:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T09:53:02","slug":"south-korea-boycotts-japans-sado-island-memorial-over-forced-labour-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/east-asia\/south-korea\/south-korea-boycotts-japans-sado-island-memorial-over-forced-labour-dispute\/40827\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea boycotts Japan\u2019s Sado Island memorial over forced labour dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex-shrink-0 flex flex-col relative items-end\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"pt-0\">\n<div class=\"gizmo-bot-avatar flex h-8 w-8 items-center justify-center overflow-hidden rounded-full\">\n<div class=\"relative p-1 rounded-sm flex items-center justify-center bg-token-main-surface-primary text-token-text-primary h-8 w-8\">On Saturday, South Korea announced its decision to abstain from a memorial service near Japan\u2019s Sado Island Gold Mines, citing unresolved disputes with Tokyo.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The event has sparked controversy, highlighting the historical abuse of Korean forced labourers at the site during World War II.<\/p>\n<p>The decision comes despite recent efforts by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to mend ties with Japan and strengthen trilateral security cooperation with the United States to counter North Korean threats. However, Yoon\u2019s approach has faced domestic criticism, with opponents accusing him of downplaying the suffering of Korean survivors.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea\u2019s Foreign Ministry stated that the disputes between the governments remained unresolved before Sunday\u2019s event. It did not disclose details about the disagreements, while Japanese officials declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>Critics have questioned South Korea\u2019s involvement in the event, arguing that Japan has not made adequate commitments to address Korean labourers\u2019 hardships. The controversy deepened after Japan announced the attendance of Akiko Ikuina, a vice minister who had previously visited Tokyo\u2019s contentious Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine, seen by Japan\u2019s neighbours as a symbol of militarism, honours the war dead, including convicted war criminals.<\/p>\n<p>The Sado mines, operational from the 16th century until 1989, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2023 after Japan agreed to acknowledge Korean suffering. Still, many view Sunday\u2019s ceremony as insufficient, accusing Japan of glossing over its wartime atrocities.<\/p>\n<p>Relations between Seoul and Tokyo remain fragile, with historical grievances over Japan\u2019s colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945 continuing to complicate reconciliation efforts.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korea has decided not to attend a memorial near Japan\u2019s Sado Island Gold Mines, citing unresolved disputes with Tokyo. The event reignited tensions over Korean forced laborers\u2019 abuse during Japan\u2019s colonial rule, straining recently improved relations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":40828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[23708,268,20759,603,275],"class_list":["post-40827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-south-korea","tag-akiko-ikuina","tag-japan","tag-sado-island","tag-south-korea","tag-yoon-suk-yeol"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40827"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40830,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40827\/revisions\/40830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}