TOKYO – In a letter of formal recommendation for its former gold and silver mine to be placed in the Unesco World Heritage List, the Japanese government effectively disregarded its 20th century wartime atrocities against Koreans, knowledgeable sources said on Monday.

Despite Seoul's strong opposition, Tokyo has launched a campaign to have the Sado mine classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site next year.

During World War II, 2,000 Koreans were compelled to work at the mine as a result of their country's brutal colonial occupation by Japan. "From the 16th century through the mid-19th century, (the Japanese government) promoted (the Sado mine) as having worth of its mining technology and system," a Japanese government source stated.

According to the official, Japan focused on the mine's activity during the Edo period (1603-1867) in the letter sent to Unesco on February 1, with the forced labour issue left out of the essential component.

According to another source at the Foreign Ministry, Japan used the name "Sado island gold mines" in the document rather than "the Sado complex of heritage mines, particularly gold mines" in its own preliminary list of heritage candidate sites in 2010.

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