Japan will hold a memorial ceremony near the Sado Island Gold Mines, which were listed this summer as a UNESCO World Heritage site after the country moved past years of disputes with South Korea and reluctantly acknowledged the dark side of their history.

South Korea has paid tribute to wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines in a memorial ceremony. SADO, Japan — South Korea paid tribute to wartime Korean forced laborers at Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines in a memorial ceremony ...

SADO, Japan (AP) — Japanese officials on Sunday paid tribute to workers at the country's Sado Island Gold Mines but offered no apology over Japan’s brutal wartime use of Korean forced laborers, highlighting lingering tensions between the neighbors over the issue.

South Korea’s government says it has decided not to attend a memorial service near Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines due to unspecified disagreements with Japan over the event, which stirred longstanding tensions over the abuse of Korean forced laborers at the site before the end of World War II.

SADO: Japanese officials on Sunday paid tribute to workers at the Sado Island Gold Mines but refrained from offering an apology for Japan’s wartime use of Korean forced laborers, underscoring persistent tensions between the two countries over historical issues.

Japan held a memorial service on Sunday near the Sado Island Gold Mines, despite South Korea's last-minute boycott of the event that highlighted tensions between the neighbors over the issue of Korean forced laborers at the site before and during World War II.