South Korea and Japan began talks Friday to resolve a row over Tokyo’s push to win world heritage status for industrial facilities linked to wartime Korean slave labor.
Japan has applied to list a package of 23 coal mines, shipyards and other early industrial zones as UNESCO world heritage sites.
South Korea is strongly against the bid as the facilities include seven sites where nearly 60,000 Koreans were forced to work during World War II. Japan colonized Korea from 1910-45.
Choi Jong-moon, South Korean ambassador for cultural and UNESCO affairs, met with Jun Shimmi, the Japanese foreign ministry’s director-general for cultural affairs, at the ministry in Tokyo, along with relevant diplomatic and culture officials from both sides.
The results of the meeting were not immediately available.
ICOMOS, a panel of civilian experts under UNESCO, recently approved Japan’s bid. The final decision is expected to come during a meeting of the World Heritage Committee slated for June 28-July 8 in Bonn, Germany. (Yonhap)
