By Anadolu staff
South Korea on Saturday announced that it will not attend the scheduled memorial ceremony in Japan honoring forced labor victims due to controversy over the event, according to local media.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry announced the decision just a day before as the ceremony will be held on Sunday near the Sado Island Gold Mines, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.
"We have decided not to attend the Sado mine memorial ceremony, scheduled for Nov. 24, taking into account various circumstances surrounding the event," the ministry was quoted as saying.
"There was insufficient time to reconcile differing positions between the diplomatic authorities of both countries, making it unlikely to reach a mutually acceptable agreement before the ceremony," it added.
The announcement came after Japan said that Akiko Ikuina, a parliamentary vice minister at Japan's Foreign Ministry, will attend the ceremony as the government representative. Ikuina had reportedly visited Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine following her election as a lawmaker in 2022.
The shrine has been a source of tension between Japan and its neighbors, particularly South Korea and China, as it is viewed as a sign of Japan's failure to atone for its past "imperialist aggression.”
South Korean critics said her attendance at the ceremony would upset the eleven family members of the Korean victims who were planning to attend the event, according to media reports.
There was no immediate reaction from Japan over the South Korean decision.
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.
*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid