S. Korea to Skip Sado Mine Memorial Service for 3rd Year

Seoul, Sept. 9 (Jiji Press)--South Korea will not send officials to Saturday's memorial service at the Sado Island Gold Mines, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, it was learned Wednesday.

It will be the third consecutive year of South Korea's absence from the memorial service, which honors workers at the now-defunct mines.

According to a South Korean government source, Seoul held serious consultations with the Japanese side but could not reach an agreement on key disputed points.

The two sides are believed to remain at odds over whether laborers from the Korean Peninsula were forced to work at the mines.

The South Korean government is expected to hold a separate memorial ceremony this year as well.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]