South Korea has paid tribute to wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado gold mines in a memorial ceremony.

Japan has held a memorial ceremony near the Sado Island Gold Mines despite a last-minute boycott of the event by South Korea that highlighted tensions between the neighbors over the brutal wartime use

SEOUL: South Korea held a memorial event in Japan on Monday (Nov 25) for its labourers forced to work at a controversial mine during World War Two, after boycotting one organised by Tokyo, highlighting lingering sensitivities in ties between the neighbours.

South Korea’s government says it has decided not to attend a memorial service near Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines due to unspecified disagreements with Japan over the event, which stirred longstanding tensions over the abuse of Korean forced laborers at the site before the end of World War II.

South Korea has paid tribute to wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines in a memorial ceremony

Japan held a memorial ceremony on Sunday near the Sado Island Gold Mines despite a last-minute boycott of the event by South Korea that highlighted tensions between the neighbors over the issue of Korean forced laborers at the site before and during World War II.