South Korea has paid tribute to wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado Island 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

Two separate memorial services honoring those who worked in Sado Island’s gold mines during World War II were held here after the South Korean government’s last-minute withdrawal from the Japan-organized ceremony.

South Korea held a memorial event in Japan to honor laborers forced to work during WWII, boycotting a Japanese-organized event due to sensitivities over historical disputes. Improved ties between Seoul and Tokyo face challenges as both nations navigate diplomatic relations tied to colonial history.

Relatives of Korean victims and South Korean officials offer a prayer during a memorial service at the site of former Fourth Souai Dormitory for the mine workers from the Korean Peninsula, in Sado, Niigata prefecture, Japan on Nov 25, a day after boycotting a memorial organized by Japanese officials. (AP)

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.

Japanese officials on Sunday paid tribute to workers at the country’s Sado Island Gold Mines but offered no apology over Japan’s brutal wartime use

Efforts by South Korea and Japan to hold a joint memorial service near Japa’s Sado Island Gold Mines, where Koreans were forced to work during Japan’s colonial rule, fell apart on Nov. 24 due to disagreements between both governments.