Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will meet with UNESCO chief Irina Bokova next week, a ministry spokesman said Thursday, as Japan pushes to win world heritage status for industrial facilities linked to wartime Korean slave labor.

Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, is scheduled to visit South Korea next week to attend the World Education Forum in Songdo, west of Seoul, from Tuesday through Friday.

Yun and Bokova will hold talks Tuesday, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il.

The meeting comes as South Korea has been pushing to block Japan's bid to list a package of 23 coal mines, shipyards and other early industrial zones as UNESCO world heritage sites. The facilities include seven sites where nearly 60,000 Koreans were forced to work during World War II.

Japan colonized Korea from 1910-45.

Asked whether Yun will address the issue during his meeting with Bokova, Noh declined to comment.

"Once the meeting is over, we will issue a press release on what was discussed," he said during a press briefing. "It's not appropriate for me to tell you before the meeting takes place."

On the forum's sidelines, Yun plans to host a luncheon with more than 100 visiting high-level officials, including U.N.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Bokova, World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim and former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the spokesman said. (Yonhap)