South Korea will hold a memorial ceremony to honor Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor at the Sado mines in Niigata Prefecture later this month.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday that the ceremony will take place at the Sado mines on the morning of November 21, with bereaved families, South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Hyuk and other government officials in attendance.

Following the memorial, Lee and other attendees will visit major sites in the area related to Korean forced labor.

Seoul did not send representatives to Japan's memorial for Korean victims at the UNESCO-listed Sado mines for the second straight year in September after concluding that the forced mobilization of Korean laborers was not sufficiently reflected in Tokyo's memorial address.

Tokyo pledged to hold an annual memorial service for Korean and Japanese people who labored at the Sado mines when it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2024.

Seoul consented to the UNESCO listing on the condition that Tokyo inform international visitors of the full history of the site, including hosting the annual memorial and exhibiting the harsh working conditions under which Koreans were forced to toil.