Nagasaki shipyard and Hashima Coal Mine

Japan`s modernization occurred after the Edo shogunate was overthrown by Choshu and Satsuma, two groups of samurai warriors from the southern part of the country. The Choshu Domain was located in modern-day Yamaguchi prefecture, the southernmost part of Honshu. The Satsuma Domain was based in today`s Kagoshima prefecture. Kyushu and Yamaguchi are scattered with historic sites that played an important part in Japan`s modernization. The Japanese government has decided to recommend 28 modern industrial sites in Kyushu and Yamaguchi as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Among the sites, Yahata Steel Works and the Nagasaki Shipyard are the most famous. Japanese school textbooks refer to them as the representative industrial facilities of the Meiji Period. The Yahata Steel Works is still operated by Nippon Steel Corporation, and the Nagasaki Shipyard by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. There once was a coal mine on Hashima Island, southwest of Nagasaki Port. The coal mine was also owned by Mitsubishi.

The Nagasaki Shipyard and the Hashima Coal Mine carry painful memories for Korean slave laborers during World War II. About 4,700 Koreans were forced to work at the Nagasaki shipyard to build warships. About 1,600 of them were killed during the atomic bombing in August 1945. At the Hashima Coal Mine, which was called a "prison island," Koreans were forced to work for 12 hours a day in pits under 1,000 meters under water. A total of 122 Koreans died there, including those who were drowned while trying to escape. South Korea`s foreign ministry protested Tokyo`s move, saying, "Listing facilities that are laden with the pain of a neighboring country violates the principles and spirit of being a world heritage site." However, Tokyo rejected the appeal.

Japan recommended the sites as World Heritage sites under the slogan of "the pioneers of industrialization in the non-Western world." The West`s modernization has a dark site in which capitalists exploited workers. However, the exploitation was among the peoples of the same countries. However, the dark side of Japan`s modernization involves exploitation of Koreans and Chinese. Japan should at least show some self-reflection about the pain it forced upon its neighbors.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)