Japan is reportedly considering holding a commemoration for wartime forced laborers at the Sado Mine, a former gold mine recently listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as early as September. The potential move comes as part of an agreement between Seoul and Tokyo, following the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s decision to inscribe the mine despite South Korea’s initial protests.

South Korea had argued that Japan aimed to omit the history of thousands of Koreans forced to work under harsh conditions at the mine during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. However, South Korea later agreed to the inscription, provided that Japan implements the recommendations of the International Council on Monuments and Sites and takes other measures.