S. Korea, Japan to hold talks on UNESCO

Published : May 8, 2015 - 19:37 Updated : May 8, 2015 - 20:09

South Korea said Friday it will hold talks with Japan this month on Tokyo's attempt to win UNESCO's recognition for several industrial facilities where many Koreans were coerced into slave labor during the colonial era.

"The two sides will hold a meeting to discuss the matter in Tokyo on May 22," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The level of chief delegates has yet to be decided, it added.

Japan has applied for the listing of a package of 23 coal mines, shipyards and other early industrial zones as world heritage sites. It includes seven facilities where nearly 60,000 Koreans were forced to work during World War II. Japan colonized Korea from 1910-45.

Its bid has deepened conflicts between the neighboring countries mired in a decades-long territorial and history row.

In the upcoming talks, South Korea will formally ask Japan to drop its bid or clarify that the facilities are related to its wartime atrocity in UNESCO's world heritage document, according to diplomatic sources.

To the disappointment of South Koreans, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a group of experts, has advised UNESCO to accept Tokyo's bid.

South Korean officials said the council apparently took "technical factors" into account, rather than historical background linked with Japan's atrocity.

They expect the World Heritage Committee to make a different decision as it would consider negative effects from Japan's drive.

The committee is scheduled to open a weeklong session in Germany on June 28, which will be attended by government delegates.

"As we said in a press briefing yesterday, the responsibility for politicizing UNESCO lies with Japan," a ministry official said Friday. "Japan should retract its bid. UNESCO wants South Korea and Japan to reach a consensus over the problem through dialogue. It may defer a decision."

He cited the UNESCO Constitution, which reads "The wide diffusion of culture, and the education of humanity for justice and liberty and peace are indispensable to the dignity of man and constitute a sacred duty which all the nations must fulfill in the spirit of mutual assistance and concern."

The official's remarks came in response to the Japanese government's assertion that South Korea is making a "political claim" over the issue.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters it does not make sense for Seoul to take issue with the recommendation by the specialists' panel that the candidate sites deserve a world heritage title.

(Yonhap)