Akiko Ikuina of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attending the “Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony” on the island of Sado on the 24th. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
TOKYO, Nov. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The Japanese government on Monday expressed regret over South Korea boycotting a Japan-led event honoring wartime forced labor victims, including Koreans, from an old Japanese mine complex.
The remark came as South Korea boycotted the memorial held on Sado Island, off Japan’s west coast, on Sunday and held its own memorial honoring the victims earlier in the day in protest over Tokyo’s apparent insincerity in delivering on its pledge to remember the victims.
“It is regrettable that South Korea did not participate,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference.
Announcing the decision just a day before the event, Seoul indicated it had to do with the fact that Tokyo had decided to send a vice foreign minister who has a history of attending the Yasukuni Shrine honoring the war criminals from World War II to the event as the government representative.
(Yonhap)
