Japan’s Sado gold mine gains UNESCO status after Tokyo pledges to exhibit dark WWII history

Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — The UNESCO World Heritage committee has decided to register Japan’s controversial Sado gold mine as a cultural heritage site after the country agreed to include it in an exhibit about its dark history of abusing wartime Korean laborers. The decision Saturday is a sign of improving ties between Tokyo and Seoul. The mine in northern Japan operated for nearly 400 years and was once the world’s largest gold producer before closing in 1989. Japan has acknowledged of putting Korean laborers to more dangerous tasks in the mine and given them meager food rations.