South Korea will reportedly demand that the United Nations cultural agency remove Japan's historical industrial sites, including Hashima Island, from its list of World Heritage sites.

Rep. Jeon Yong-gi of the ruling Democratic Party(DP) said on Sunday that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will send a letter to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) to that effect this month.  

Jeon said that Culture Minister Park Yang-woo and administrator of the Cultural Heritage Administration, Chung Jae-suk, unveiled the plan on Thursday in a policy report to DP members of the parliamentary committee on culture and tourism. 

Park reportedly said the issue is already being addressed by the Foreign Ministry but the Culture Ministry will also take its own steps including sending a letter to the UN agency.

The planned move is seen as a response to Japan's failure to fulfill its pledge to commemorate Korean victims of wartime forced labor in a new facility celebrating its industrial revolution. 

Japan recently opened an information center in Tokyo to introduce 23 modern Japanese industrial locations designated by UNESCO as world heritage sites in July 2015. 

Seven of the 23 UNESCO sites, including Hashima Island which is known as Battleship Island in Korea, used forced labor from Korea and other Asian countries before and during World War Two. 

Upon the designation, Japan promised to set up the information center to remember the victims of forced labor.