‘Forced mobilization’ replaced with ‘high-wage labor’… Japan, once again ‘whitewashing history’ in a World Heritage guidebook - 경향신문

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Amid criticism that, contrary to the pledge it made when modern industrial facilities were listed as World Heritage, the Japanese government has failed to properly inform the public that Koreans were subjected to forced labor, it has once again published a World Heritage guidebook that omits descriptions of historical wrongdoing. The photos show the section on Sado Mine (left) and the section on Battleship Island. Yonhap News

The Japanese government has published a World Heritage guidebook that excludes historical wrongdoing, running counter to the promise it made when modern industrial facilities were inscribed on the World Heritage List. Criticism is expected to intensify that it is failing to properly acknowledge that Koreans were forcibly mobilized.

In July, to mark the 75th anniversary of Japan's accession to UNESCO, a travel information book introducing World Heritage sites within Japan, UNESCO Global Geoparks, and biosphere reserves was published and is being sold in bookstores across Japan.

According to Kyodo News, the book, one of the “Rurubu” travel guide series, titled <A Trip Around Japan's UNESCO World Heritage and Registered Sites>, was published as part of a project promoted by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to commemorate the 75th anniversary of UNESCO membership. Local governments related to the World Heritage properties cooperated in its production. The book introduces 26 of Japan's World Heritage properties, excluding Nara Prefecture’s ‘Asuka·Fujiwara Ancient Capitals,’ which were inscribed at the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in July.

In the book, it describes ‘Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution’ (inscribed in 2015), which include locations where Koreans were subjected to forced labor, and ‘Sado Mine’ (inscribed in 2024), but does not mention the related historical issues.

Regarding Sado Mine, it highlights only its status as a famed Edo-period gold mine, noting that it was the largest gold producer supporting the Tokugawa shogunate and that in the 17th century the gold mined there accounted for about 10% of global production.

Japan was criticized during its push to inscribe Sado Mine as a UNESCO World Heritage site for attempting to spotlight only the Edo periodseen as less controversialrather than its full history. In this book as well, it focuses solely on its Edo-period history and does not mention Korean labor under Japanese colonial rule.

The book introduces the Sado Mine heritage site by stating, "Models of craftsmen working inside the mine tunnels are on display," yet offers no explanation about Korean workers. It also states, "The work was harsh, but at the time they were being paid remarkably high wages," thereby glossing over the fact that Koreans who were brought by force were not properly paid.

The method of erasing the history of forced labor of Koreans is repeated in the section introducing the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution that include Battleship Island (Hashima Coal Mine).

The book extols the Meiji Industrial Revolution sites as "evidence of a modernization project led by samurai" and as "heritage that shows Japan achieved an industrial revolution at a pace unparalleled in the world from the late Edo to the Meiji period." Of the two pages explaining the Meiji Industrial Revolution sites, it devotes one to Battleship Island, describing it as "a maritime city equipped with advanced technology." Regarding the Hashima Coal Mine, where the forced labor of Koreans on Battleship Island was concentrated, it only notes that it "supported domestic and overseas demand for coal as one of the world’s leading undersea mines."

The Japanese government pledged, around the time of the World Heritage inscription of the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution that include Battleship Island, to provide explanations about the forced mobilization of Koreans during the colonial period, but it has not honored that pledge. The Industrial Heritage Information Center, which opened in Tokyo in 2020, also drew criticism for focusing on showcasing Japan’s industrialization rather than explaining the forced mobilization of Koreans. In July, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee adopted a decision that ‘Japan should comprehensively inform the public about the full history of Sado Mine,’ but the Japanese government is not complying, citing the absence of explicit terms such as ‘forced labor’ or ‘forced mobilization’ in the decision.