South Korean government to skip Sado Mine memorial ceremony on 24th...concerned over Japanese representative's history of visiting Yasukuni Shrine

The decision was made to skip the memorial ceremony for the Sado mine that was scheduled for the 24th. The attendance of Akiko Ikuina, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs (Vice-Minister level), who has a history of visiting Yasukuni Shrine as a representative of Japan, was the subject of negotiations between Japan and South Korea.
On the 23rd, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (equivalent to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs) announced, "The South Korean government has decided to postpone the memorial ceremony scheduled for the 24th in consideration of various circumstances related to the memorial ceremony.
"We have decided not to participate in the memorial ceremony for the Sado mine, which was scheduled to take place in April," he said. He continued, "We made this decision because we wanted to allow sufficient time for the diplomatic authorities of both countries to reconcile their differences regarding the memorial ceremony."
"We decided that it would be difficult to reach an agreement acceptable to both countries before the memorial service," the South Korean government said. It was revealed that the South Korean government notified Japan through diplomatic channels that day that it would not participate.
However, the South Korean government plans to continue communicating with the Japanese government about whether it will participate in the memorial ceremonies next year and beyond.
The government was scheduled to have Ambassador Park Chol-hee to Japan and others attend the memorial service as government representatives. However, the Japanese side decided not to send any representatives to the Yasukuni Shrine, where Class A war criminals from the Pacific War are enshrined.
It was decided that a Japanese official would be sent as a representative of Japan, which caused a problem. It was a problem that a person who had visited Yasukuni Shrine would be sent as a representative of Japan to a memorial event for the victims of forced labor at the Sado mines during the Japanese colonial period.
This could be interpreted as an insult to the bereaved families. Prior to this, the opposition Democratic Party of Korea issued a commentary in the morning of the same day, saying, "It is unacceptable that someone who visited Yasukuni Shrine would be sent to the Sado Mine Memorial Ceremony.
Is this the 'Japan-Korea cooperation' that President Yoon Seok-yeol spoke of?" he said.