Overview

• At the Sept. 13 service on Sado Island, Foreign Ministry official Yukiko Okano noted many workers came from the Korean Peninsula and described harsh wartime conditions but did not label the labor as forced.
• The ceremony proceeded without South Korean government representatives after Seoul said no agreement was reached on wording that the workers were mobilized against their will.
• South Korea plans a separate commemoration with victims’ families instead of attending the Japanese event.
• The annual memorial began in 2024 as part of Japan’s pledge following UNESCO World Heritage inscription for the Sado mines.
• The continued split highlights an unresolved dispute over how the site’s wartime labor history should be officially described.