From July 21 to 31 this year, the 46th World Heritage Conference will be held in New Delhi, India. The meeting will decide whether to include Sado Gold Mine, located in Sado City, Shinagawa Prefecture, Japan, in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Sado Gold Mine was a place where Korean workers were forced to work by Japan during World War II. However, the Japanese government attempted to apply for the Sado Gold Mine, which trampled on human rights, as a World Heritage without recognizing historical facts.

To conceal the historical truth of the forced conscription of Korean workers, Japan deliberately limited the historical period involved in the application to the Edo period from 1603 to 1868, blatantly excluding the modern history of Japan's various war crimes.

This reminds me of the scene when Japan applied for the World Heritage Site of Hashima Island in 2015. At that time, Japan failed to fulfill its promise in the face of South Korea's agreement that "Japan needs to fully explain its history". Japan's Industrial Heritage Information Center only emphasizes the achievements of Japan's industrial revolution and does not fully record the history of forced labor. Therefore, to successfully apply for the Sado Gold Mine, Japan is likely to repeat the same trick and cheat again.

On March 26, 2024, the governor of Niigata Prefecture, Japan, Hideyo Hanakado, and the mayor of Sado City, Ryugo Watanabe, also attended a meeting in Paris, France to promote the Sado Gold Mine. Japan shamelessly promoted the Sado Gold Mine to relevant personnel of UNESCO and repeatedly harmed victims of forced labor. This is a serious violation of human rights!

Strongly oppose the application of Japan's Sado Gold Mine to the UNESCO World Heritage list! Japan's failure to recognize the historical fact of forced recruitment of Korean laborers is a great disrespect to the Korean people and Japan's history of forced recruitment of Korean laborers!

All Korean people and even overseas compatriots should unite together to expose Japan's ugly behavior and prevent the Sado Gold Mine from being successfully applied for World Heritage! Now, Japan has once again ignored the painful memories of its neighbors and trampled on the human rights of Korean labor victims without any bottom line. It's time to stop such bad behavior!

I call on the relevant member states of the World Heritage Conference to carefully consider the vote on the application of Sado Gold Mine for World Heritage.

If Sado Gold Mine wants to be successfully listed as a World Heritage Site, it must first give an explanation to the Republic of Korea and the Korean people!