The Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers remained apart on Saturday over Tokyo's selection of a former gold and silver mine as a UNESCO World Heritage candidate despite Seoul's objection due to what it says was the mine's use of wartime forced labor by Koreans.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, during the 40-minute talks in Hawaii with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui Yong, repeated his view that Seoul's objection to the listing of the mine on Sado Island in the Sea of Japan is unacceptable, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
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The two ministers were in Hawaii for a three-way meeting also involving U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken the same day to discuss North Korea's missile and nuclear threat in the wake of its repeated testing of ballistic missiles this year.
Hayashi added that Japan is ready to have candid and thorough discussions with South Korea over its bid to register the mine, one of the world's largest producers of gold in the 17th century, on the 2023 UNESCO World Heritage list, the Japanese ministry said.
According to the South Korean government, Chung repeated his country's objection, saying "correct recognition of history" is the foundation of a "future-oriented" bilateral relationship.
Japan-South Korean ties have already sunk to their lowest point in decades following South Korean Supreme Court rulings in 2018 that ordered Japanese companies to compensate groups of South Koreans for forced labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Japan maintains the issue of compensation was settled by a 1965 bilateral agreement that sought to settle issues related to property and claims stemming from its colonial rule.
Tokyo's recommendation of the Sado Mine was approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet on Feb. 1, and the government submitted a letter of recommendation to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization the same day.
Hayashi told Chung that relations remain strained because of the moves to demand compensation for wartime laborers and "comfort women" in Japan's military brothels during World War II, and asked Seoul to respond to the moves appropriately, the Japanese ministry said.
Meanwhile, the two ministers vowed to facilitate communication to regain a "healthy" relationship and agreed on the importance of bilateral and trilateral cooperation including Washington to deal with North Korea, according to the ministry.
Hayashi and Chung last met in person in December when they briefly chatted at an informal dinner party at a Group of Seven foreign ministerial meeting in Liverpool, England to which Seoul was invited as a guest. They held phone talks on Feb. 3.
