[Reporter’s Notebook] Inside Korea’s diplomatic failure at Japan’s memorial ceremony

South Korea's diplomatic fallout over Japan's memorial ceremony on Sado -- an event Seoul had anticipated as a tribute to Korean victims forced into labor in the island's mines -- was far from unexpected.

The outcome was the foreseeable result of missteps: the South Korean Foreign Ministry's complacency and its narrow fixation on securing the presence of a high-ranking Japanese official, at the expense of addressing critical diplomatic priorities. The failure also stemmed from overlooking the importance of having Korean victims and their bereaved families attend the Tokyo-led ceremony, which lacked any prior formal briefing for them.

The situation was further exacerbated by Japan's reluctance to coordinate and its last-minute withholding of crucial event details, a delay that remains inexcusable even when considering Japan's election schedule in September and October.

This controversy echoes 2015, when Seoul's misplaced trust in Tokyo's pledge to address its colonial-era forced labor history, led to South Korea supporting the inclusion of Hashima Island -- better known as "Battleship Island" -- on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, only to face a breach of trust and disappointment.

Nearly a decade later, in 2024, history repeated itself in a distressingly familiar way.

South Korea found itself tied to yet another inequitable agreement, lacking any mechanism to hold Japan accountable for its commitments regarding the Sado Island Gold Mines' bid for UNESCO World Heritage status. Although a site’s inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List can technically be revoked, such reversals are exceedingly rare, with only three recorded cases to date.

Sole fixation

The crux of the issue lay in the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s shortsighted and narrowly focused strategy, fixated solely on securing the attendance of a high-ranking Japanese official as a measure of the ceremony’s "sincerity."

This approach overlooked the significant risk of Japan sending a senior figure with a history of visiting the contentious Yasukuni Shrine -- a site Seoul perceives as honoring war criminals and glorifying Japan’s militaristic past.

Japan has only three parliamentary vice ministers in its Foreign Ministry, yet South Korea’s Foreign Ministry failed to vet the chosen delegate or request that Japan not have Akiko Ikuina attend the ceremony.

A closed-door briefing scheduled for Nov. 22 at Seoul's Foreign Ministry was abruptly canceled just five minutes before it was set to begin, as local media intensified scrutiny over Akiko Ikuina’s record of visiting the Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, 2022 -- a date of profound significance as both Korea’s Liberation Day and the anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender.

Pressed on whether Seoul had requested a delegate without ties to Yasukuni, a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, on Nov. 22, neither confirmed nor denied that Seoul had done so.

Concession too far

The Foreign Ministry in Seoul has drawn criticism for appearing overly accommodating to Tokyo, with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul disclosing during a parliamentary briefing on Thursday that Seoul waited until Nov. 20 -- just four days before the scheduled Nov. 24 memorial ceremony -- for Tokyo to confirm the event's date.

Cho also revealed that Japan shared the final draft of the memorial address just two days before the ceremony. However, efforts to narrow the remaining differences ultimately failed, prompting South Korea to boycott the event.

Even worse, during a closed-door briefing on Nov. 20, a senior Foreign Ministry official was unable to provide details beyond the event’s venue, date and time.

The official was unable to address key questions, including the identity of Japan’s chief delegate, the event’s sequence, the composition of Japan’s executive committee for the event, or the outline of the memorial address.

Notably, the official was unaware of the schedule of a press conference by the executive committee in Niigata prefecture on the same day, though Seoul and Tokyo agreed to lift the press embargo on the date and venue of the memorial ceremony as soon as the press conference began.

The Public Diplomacy and Cultural Affairs Bureau, along with the UNESCO Division at Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, poorly managed preparations for the ceremony under Second Vice Foreign Minister Kang In-sun. Critically, the team neither visited the ceremony venue nor engaged directly with Japan’s executive committee, relying solely on correspondence with Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

During the Nov. 20 briefing, when asked which channels were used for discussions regarding the memorial ceremony, the official responded that the team "has been continuously engaging in discussions with the counterpart Foreign Ministry."

Victims, families deprioritized

Moreover, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul put surviving Korean victims of forced labor and relatives of deceased victims at Sado Island Gold Mines on the back burner.

Due to the last-minute notification by Japan, South Korea was unable to hold a briefing for surviving Korean victims and relatives of deceased victims, though this should have been prioritized.

During the Nov. 20 briefing, the unnamed Foreign Ministry official acknowledged that, due to a highly compressed timeline, the ministry managed to contact only about 20 surviving victims and relatives of deceased forced labor victims. As a result, only 11 individuals from four victim families were initially able to make arrangements to attend the Japan-hosted memorial ceremony.

The controversy did not end there. Hideyo Hanazumi, governor of Japan’s Niigata prefecture, stated on Nov. 20, "I want to use the memorial service to express my gratitude to those who contributed to the Sado mines becoming a World Heritage Site" during the executive committee's news conference for the event.

Reporters repeatedly raised concerns over the humiliation endured by the families of deceased victims during the Japan-hosted memorial. Despite these concerns, the Foreign Ministry persisted in its plans to proceed, even arranging for bereaved relatives to travel to Sado -- only to make a last-minute reversal on the afternoon of Nov. 23.

Tokyo did not cover any expenses for the Korean relatives of deceased victims traveling to Sado; instead, Seoul covered them.

Media, public left in dark

Seoul's Foreign Ministry made no effort to engage with the wider Korean public and media during discussions with Japan over the memorial ceremony -- a deeply sensitive and historically charged issue stemming from forced labor under Japanese 1910-45 colonial rule.

The Foreign Ministry often leans on its mantra, “We cannot disclose details discussed between diplomatic authorities,” while occasionally offering information off the record to preempt media coverage on sensitive issues that could disadvantage Seoul if reported.

A striking example occurred on Oct. 28, when the Foreign Ministry abruptly canceled a briefing on the memorial ceremony shortly after it began, offering no clear explanation to the media and imposing a press blackout on the reasons for the cancellation. The Nov. 22 briefing was canceled five minutes before it began.

The announcement of boycotting the Japan-hosted memorial ceremony was conveyed via a terse message, also without any explanation, to the press.

Pattern of failures

Another Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, asserted on July 26 -- one day before the UNESCO session where Japan pledged actions in exchange for South Korea’s approval of its bid to inscribe the Sado Island Gold Mines on the World Heritage list -- that this time would be different from 2015.

The official likened the 2015 experience to “a promissory note issued by Japan being dishonored,” emphasizing that Seoul had prioritized “securing collateral or immediate cash” at the time, opting for tangible actions over reliance on future promises.

Earlier, during an August Assembly briefing, Cho described the South Korea-Japan negotiations over the Sado Mine as a "deal that addressed not only Japan’s previously dishonored checks (from 2015) but also secured promissory notes and cash."

At Thursday’s assembly briefing, Cho remarked that South Korea has once again received a "bounced check," likening it to Japan's unfulfilled promises this time.

Its exhibition, "The Life of Mine Workers, Including Those from the Korean Peninsula," at the Aikawa History Museum on Sado Island failed to adequately address the forced labor endured by Korean workers. Furthermore, its additional pledge to honor Korean victims through a memorial ceremony at the site also failed to materialize.

Cho now paints a grim picture of the challenges ahead when addressing a question on how to push Japan to uphold its UNESCO commitments, stating, "In the realm of international relations, there isn’t exactly a peremptory norm that applies, is there?"

Cho added, "Of course, we must continue our efforts with even greater precision. However, the reality is that we cannot guarantee the success of these efforts -- that is the difficult truth we face."