Museum exhibits at the site of the Sado Island Gold Mines in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, July 28, 2024. (Photo: VCG)

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has urged Japan to present the whole history at the Sado Island Gold Mines, according to a draft decision released by the committee.

The committee assessed Japan's report on the state of conservation of the Sado Island Gold Mines, which were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2024, ahead of the committee's upcoming session in the southeastern South Korean city of Busan.

The committee said Japan had made some progress but had not done enough to present the site's whole history across all periods of mining activity.

According to a South Korean foreign ministry official quoted by Yonhap news agency, the site's whole history should include the wartime forced mobilization of Korean laborers under Japan's colonial rule.

Local media reports, citing historical records, said about 1,500 Koreans worked at the Sado mines from 1940 to 1945.

Japan was requested to submit an implementation report by Dec. 1, 2027, which is expected to be reviewed at the 50th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2028.