A network of centuries-old mines lies beneath a riven mountain on the Japanese island of Sado, sparking a new diplomatic row with South Korea.
Some of Sado’s gold and silver mines off the west coast of Japan are believed to have started operations as early as the 12th century and produced until after World War II.
Japan believes that the long history and artisanal mining techniques employed there at a time when European mines were turning to mechanization deserve recognition on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
But in Seoul, the focus is on what isn’t mentioned in the application: the use of Korean forced laborers during World War II when Japan occupied the Korean peninsula.
Japan is seeking recognition of three sites – the Nishimikawa Gold Mine, the Tsurushi Silver Mine, and the Aikawa Gold and Silver Mine – for the period between 1603 and 1867.
Officials and supporters of the bid say the era was when mines were the most productive in the world and mining was done by hand.
But it also stops short of the time when conscripted Koreans toiled under conditions that even some supporters of the UNESCO bid call “extremely harsh.”
World Heritage efforts have been underway for years, inspired in part by the successful recognition of a silver mine in the Shimane region of western Japan.
Ryo Usami of Sado City’s World Heritage Promotion Section said locals hoped the recognition would highlight the mine’s contribution to the island’s unique culture and history.
“A lot of people migrated to Sado to mine gold and silver… They came from all over Japan and brought their local culture,” Usami told AFP.
“The history of Sado is basically the history of these gold mines and their culture, partly thanks to the mining activities. The city of Sado wants to preserve that.”
– “There was discrimination” –
Production at the sites dried up in the 1960s when the mine operator Mitsubishi Materials began taking in tourists.
In the 1970s, animatronic robots were installed in some mining tunnels to give a sense of what life was like there.
The eerie, decrepit figures remain, their heads bobbing and their arms mechanically swinging pickaxes up and down in a lost fashion.
Groups of local tourists walk through the cold tunnels and read plaques explaining the history of Sado’s mining industry.
The bodies note that Edo-era miners were often homeless or unregistered people who were captured and forced to work, and child labor was used at times.
But there is little evidence that an estimated 1,500 Koreans worked at the sites during World War II.
Their status is disputed, with some arguing that about two-thirds signed treaties voluntarily, while the remainder were conscripted during wartime mobilization.
“The working conditions were extremely harsh, yet the pay was very high, so many people, including many Japanese, applied,” said Koichiro Matsuura, a former UNESCO director-general who supports Sado’s bid.
Others argue that recruitment conditions were practically forced labor and that Korean workers faced significantly harsher conditions than their Japanese counterparts.
“There was discrimination,” said Toyomi Asano, a professor of the history of Japanese politics at Tokyo’s Waseda University.
“Their working conditions were very bad and dangerous. They have been assigned the most dangerous jobs.”
– ‘Part of our history’ –
Wartime issues such as forced labor have soured Japan-South Korea relations, and Seoul has formed a task force to oppose UNESCO’s bid.
After the bid was announced, the government summoned Tokyo’s ambassador and issued a statement saying it “deeply regrets” the nomination and “urges Japan to stop trying.”
The issue of forced labor affects other Japanese heritage sites, including the “Meiji Industrial Revolution Sites” inscribed in 2015.
UNESCO last year asked an information center for the sites to properly explain that “large numbers of Koreans and others were brought against their will and forced to work in harsh conditions.”
Matsuura believes that Japan must “avoid making the same mistake” with Sado.
“We need to be more concrete and honest about how the Korean workers lived and worked in the Sado gold mines.”
This view is shared by some visitors, including 79-year-old Hideji Yamagami.
“Of course they should (explain), I didn’t know about it at all,” he told AFP after visiting the Aikawa compound.
“I thought it was the Japanese who did all the hard work.”
Asano hopes UNESCO will insist that the full history of Sado’s mines be displayed if the site is granted World Heritage status, and believes Japan “shouldn’t be afraid” to recognize some of its history.
“Every nation has its dark history, the nations that are totally exempt do not exist.”
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