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 of Korean forced laborers, highlighting lingering tensions between the neighbors over the issue.

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

Japan held a memorial ceremony on Sunday near the Sado Island Gold Mines, listed this summer as a UNESCO World Heritage site after the country moved past years of historical disputes with South Korea and reluctantly acknowledged the mines' dark history.