1. The government of the Republic of Korea expressed regret over the contents of the progress report which Japan submitted on its implementation of follow-up measures regarding the inscription of the sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution on the World Heritage List.

2. When the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to inscribe the sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution on the World Heritage List in July 2015, the Committee recommended that the Japanese side prepare an interpretive strategy to understand the full history of each facility (23 in total). The Japanese side said that Koreans and others were brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions in the 1940s at some of the sites, and that Japan will take appropriate measures to remember the victims, including the establishment of an information center.

3. The ROK government urges Japan to fully and swiftly implement follow-up measures to remember the victims of forced labor, as it promised the international community.


* unofficial translation