One of Sado Island's gold mines (Niigata Prefecture Tourism Association)

South Korea has given the green light to designate Japan's gold and silver mines on Sado Island -- where an estimated over 1,500 Koreans were forced to work at the end of Japan's colonial rule -- as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

Japan's ongoing efforts to have the Sado Island Gold Mines recognized have fueled a dispute with South Korea. The controversy revolves around Japan's deliberate omission of its history regarding the forced mobilization of Koreans during its brutal colonial rule over the peninsula.

Despite the controversy, a senior official from the Foreign Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the "agreement between Japan and South Korea (on the inscription) has reached its final stage after a challenging process."

"Barring any unforeseen developments in the next 24 hours, the Sado Island Gold Mines are anticipated to be inscribed as a World Heritage site without a vote at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in New Delhi, India, tomorrow," the official said Friday.

Elected for a four-year term through 2027, South Korea is one of the 21 rotating members of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee this year.

An inscription on the World Heritage list typically requires a two-thirds majority vote from the WHC member states. However, it has become customary for the final decision to be reached through consensus, ensuring broader agreement and cooperation among the committee members.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry's confirmation came hours after Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported that a preliminary agreement had been reached. Under the agreement, Japan will display the history of Korean forced laborers at the site in exchange for South Korea's consent to the inscription of the Sado Mine complex as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Korea Herald also learned from diplomatic sources in Seoul that South Korea and Japan had reached the tentative agreement mentioned by the Japanese newspaper.

The Sado Island complex of gold mines (Niigata Prefecture Tourism Association)

An estimated over 1,500 Koreans were forced to work at the Sado complex of mines under harsh conditions and without proper compensation toward the end of Japanese colonial rule in the 1940s, according to a joint report in 2022 by the Korean Center for Historical Truth and Justice in Seoul and the Network for Research on Forced Labor Mobilization in Kobe.

Tokyo, however, specifically designated the time frame of the mine’s activities to the Edo period (1603-1867), intentionally omitting the entire period of the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula (1910-1945).

The unnamed official explained that the South Korean government's consent is based on two reasons.

"First, Japan has promised to reflect the 'whole history,' and second, it has already taken concrete actions towards this," the official explained without further details.

"Unlike the 2015 inscription of Japan's modern industrial facilities, including Hashima Island (also known as Battleship Island), this time we've not only received a commitment from Japan but also agreed on specific implementation details and ensured that concrete actions have already been taken," the official added.

The official stated that Japan has already taken steps to fulfill its commitment to addressing the history of forced labor at the Sado mines.

The official explained South Korea has learned from its previous failure to hold Japan accountable for failing to meet its commitments when 23 sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution were registered on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2015.

The Japanese government has yet fully to honor its promise to ensure public awareness of the fact that many Koreans and others were forced to work under harsh conditions at some of the industrial heritage sites in the 1930s and 1940s. Among the unfulfilled commitments are the establishment of an information center or informational boards to educate the public about the forced mobilization of Koreans.

Seoul and Tokyo have continued intensive negotiations since the International Council on Monuments and Sites, an advisory body to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, in June recommended that Japan's nomination of the Sado Island Gold Mines be referred back for further consideration.

ICOMOS emphasized the importance of addressing the entire history of the Sado mines, including the period after the Edo era, to understand the site's historical context fully. Additionally, the ICOMOS recommended establishing exhibition facilities at the Sado mines to present and convey the comprehensive history of the complex effectively, including the colonial era.