
NEW DELHI: The UNESCO World Heritage Committee unanimously decided Saturday to register the Sado Island Gold Mines in central Japan as a World Cultural Heritage site.
The site, which was once the world’s largest gold mine complex, was approved for inscription on the heritage list at a committee meeting in New Delhi.
In June, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which advises the UNESCO committee, made a recommendation seeking additional information on the gold mines on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture.
A committee member praised the Sado Island Gold Mines site as “an exceptional example of the ingenuity of manual mining and smelting technology in a period when mechanization was progressively being introduced elsewhere.”
South Korea had initially opposed the registration of the site, protesting to the Japanese government that the mining complex was the site of forced labor involving people from the Korean Peninsula during World War II. In response, the UNESCO committee recommended that Japan develop “facilities that comprehensively address, at the site level, the whole history of the nominated property throughout all periods of mining exploitation.”
“Sincerely remembering all the workers at the Sado Island Gold Mines, especially those form the Korean Peninsula, Japan will…make efforts to enhance the interpretation and presentation strategy and facilities that comprehensively address the whole history of the Sado Island Gold Mines, in close consultation with (South Korea),” a Japanese government representative told the committee following the approval.
The Japanese government newly set up an exhibit about the harsh working conditions of the mining complex at the Aikawa History Museum on Sado Island. It also said that it would hold on the island an annual memorial event for workers.
A representative of South Korea gave its consent to the registration of the Sado site from a perspective based on “future-oriented (South Korea-Japan) bilateral relations,” adding, “We expect that the government of Japan will fulfill its commitments…faithfully and thoroughly.”
Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio released on Saturday a statement welcoming the inscription, saying, “We will support local efforts to pass on the Sado Island Gold Mines, which turned from Japan’s treasure to a world treasure, to the future.”
Foreign Minister KAMIKAWA Yoko made a statement expressing hopes that the site would be further known by the world and highly evaluated.
The Sado Island Gold Mines became the world’s biggest gold-producing area by the 17th century, and continued manual mining and smelting until the mid-19th century while mechanization progressed at gold mines elsewhere.
Japan had nominated the site, which it described as unique mining remains and unparalleled in the world, with the aim of registering it by 2023. After UNESCO pointed out issues with its content, Tokyo resubmitted its nomination last year.
ICOMOS issued a “referral” recommendation, the second from top among four recommendations, over the site last month. It advised the Japanese government to make three modifications, such as excluding an area containing many remains built in and after the Meiji period from 1868, which was not included in the nomination. Tokyo complied with all three.
The Sado Island Gold Mines are Japan’s 21st World Cultural Heritage site, following the registration in 2021 of a set of ruins from the ancient Jomon period in northern Japan as the 20th site. The total number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Japan, including natural heritage sites, reached 26.
JIJI Press