February 4, 2022

The Kishida government on February 1 agreed to recommend the Sado gold mine on Sado island in Niigata Prefecture as a World Cultural Heritage site and submitted a letter of recommendation to the UNESCO.

Japanese Communist Party representative Miyamoto Toru at a House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on February 3 agreed that the gold mine deserves to be named a World Heritage site. However, he added that Japan should sincerely face up to historical facts and admit to its use of forced labor of Koreans at the Sado gold mine.

Miyamoto pointed out that historical documents and books compiled by Niigata prefecture and the local municipality include vivid accounts about forced labor of Koreans at the Sado gold mine before the end of Asia-Pacific War. He asked a government official, "Do you admit to this historical fact?"

Culture Minister Suematsu Shinsuke answered, "There are various viewpoints and I haven't confirmed the credibility of the views expressed. The ministry will conduct another investigation into wartime forced labor."

Miyamoto said, "Only if Japan will humbly admit to the negative aspects of the legacy of its use of forced labor can the gold mine on Sado island be designated and valued as a World Heritage site." He also demanded that the Japanese government stand firm on the 1995 Murayama Statement which expresses deep remorse and apology for Japan's past war of aggression and its colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.

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Former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in a "Yukan Fuji" interview dated January 27 said he expects a "team to work on differences over historical perceptions" to be established in order to save Japan's honor and pride. PM Kishida Fumio on February 1 set up a taskforce consisting of the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Education and Culture to form "correct historical perceptions" and respond to "unjust slanders".