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.

SADO: Japanese officials on Sunday paid tribute to workers at the Sado Island Gold Mines but refrained from offering an apology for Japan’s wartime use of Korean forced laborers, underscoring persistent tensions between the two countries over historical issues.

An event to commemorate Japanese and Korean laborers who worked at the gold and silver mine complex on Japan's Sado Island during W

South Korea says it will not attend a ceremony in Japan to commemorate victims of forced labor in the Sado Island Gold Mines. This comes as the two nations seek to draw together amid regional threats.

Japan held a memorial ceremony near the Sado Island Gold Mines, listed this summer as a UNESCO World Heritage site after the country moved past years of disputes with South

The Japanese government on Sunday expressed regret over South Korea's decision not to attend a memorial ceremony in Japan honouring forced labour victims, including Koreans, at an old Japanese mine complex.

Japan has promised to host a memorial event as a condition for Seoul’s consent to the location’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Many Koreans were taken to toil at the Sado gold and silver mines during World War II, when Korea was under Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule.

Korean officials skipped Japan's memorial service held near the Sado mine site, Sunday, in an apparent protest against Tokyo’s 'insincerity' in addressing the dark history related to the site, where approximately 1,