Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se left Thursday for Germany in a campaign against Japan’s bid to gain UNESCO world heritage status for some early industrial sites tied to Korean slave laborers.
Germany is the chair of the 21-member World Heritage Committee, which will decide in the coming weeks whether to accept Tokyo’s bid.
Tokyo is seeking to have 23 mines, shipyards and other locales registered as world heritage sites. Seven of them used nearly 60,000 Koreans as slave workers.
“Minister Yun is scheduled to hold talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on June 12,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il told reporters.
While in Berlin, Yun will “consult on the issue of mutual concern related to UNESCO,” Noh said.
The minister will then fly to the Croatian capital of Zagreb for a bilateral meeting with his Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic.
“The two sides plan to discuss ways for promoting substantive cooperation including the exchange of high-level officials and partnerships on the global stage,” added Noh.
It would mark the first trip to the European nation by a South Korean foreign minister since the two sides forged diplomatic ties in 1992. (Yonhap)
