Japan will go ahead with a memorial ceremony 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.

This July 28, 2024, file photo shows an exit of the Sado mine complex on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. (Yonhap) The Japanese government on Sunday expressed regret over South Korea's decision not to attend a memorial ceremony in Japan honoring forced labor victims,

South Korea says it will not attend a ceremony in Japan to commemorate victims of forced labor in the Sado Island Gold Mines. This comes as the two nations seek to draw together amid regional threats.

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.