SEOUL: The South Korean government has decided not to attend Sunday’s ceremony to remember those who worked at the now-defunct gold mines on Sado Island in the central Japan prefecture of Niigata, South Korean diplomatic sources said Saturday.

The decision comes as Seoul is believed to take issue with the fact that Akiko Ikuina, Japan’s parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs, who will attend the memorial ceremony, has visited Tokyo’s war-related Yasukuni Shrine in the past.

A South Korean source said that there was not enough time to coordinate the positions of the two countries on the event, and that the South Korean side found it difficult to reach a mutually acceptable agreement before the event.

The memorial ceremony will be held on the island after the Sado Island Gold Mines were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The South Korean government initially opposed to the World Heritage designation, claiming that people from the Korean Peninsula were forced to work in the mines during World War II. But it accepted the move after the Japanese government promised to reflect the whole history of the site.

Holding the memorial ceremony is among steps agreed on by the Japanese and South Korean governments. At a meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in July, the Japanese government said it would hold an annual ceremony for all workers at the mines.

On Friday, Japan’s Foreign Ministry announced that Ikuina would attend the ceremony, while South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that South Korean Ambassador to Japan Park Cheol-hee would represent the country at the ceremony.

JIJI Press