Korea and Japan faced off in a rare vote on the international stage on July 7 over a historical dispute, as the two countries clashed at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee over whether to officially include the issue of Japan’s Hashima Island, also known as Battleship Island, on the meeting agenda. With Korea losing the vote, the issue was excluded from formal discussion.

At its 47th session held in Paris, the World Heritage Committee decided not to adopt the “Review of the Implementation of the Interpretive Strategy on Hashima Island” as a formal agenda item. While Korea had proposed the issue and it was included in the provisional agenda, Japan opposed its adoption. Japan submitted a revised proposal excluding the topic, and when Korea refused to accept it, the matter was put to a vote.

In the secret ballot, Japan’s revised draft passed with 7 votes in favor and 3 against among the 21 committee members. Eight countries abstained, and three votes were invalid. As the committee typically operates by consensus, a vote was considered a rare occurrence.

Prior to the vote, Korea argued that Japan had failed to implement the commitments it made in 2015 when Hashima Island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, particularly those related to acknowledging the full history of the island, including the forced labor of Koreans during Japan’s colonial rule. Though Japan had pledged to provide accurate historical interpretation, including references to the forced mobilization of Koreans, nearly a decade has passed with little progress. Tokyo has been accused of backtracking on its promise, raising concerns about historical distortion.

Initially, the issue of Hashima Island had been excluded from this year’s agenda due to Japan’s opposition. However, the Korean government requested that UNESCO include the item, and the UNESCO Secretariat added it as a provisional agenda topic on June 12. Japan reportedly lodged a strong protest with the Secretariat, and despite last-minute negotiations between Seoul and Tokyo, no agreement was reached, resulting in the vote.

The diplomatic standoff may cast a shadow over relations between Korea and Japan, which had shown signs of improvement under President Lee Jae-myung’s administration. The outcome highlights Japan’s continued rigidity on historical issues and may spark criticism over Korea’s diplomatic strategy, especially after a visible defeat in the vote. Both countries had engaged in behind-the-scenes lobbying to secure support from other committee members.

Nevertheless, some observers noted that Korea’s efforts successfully brought international attention to Japan’s failure to follow through on its promises. A Korean foreign ministry official said, “It is regrettable that the necessary votes for the agenda’s adoption were not secured,” adding that Korea plans to formally raise the issue again during the ongoing session. The official also said, “We will continue to press Japan, both bilaterally and multilaterally, to fully implement the World Heritage Committee’s resolutions and the commitments it made itself.”

Since Hashima Island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, the committee has adopted decisions in 2018, 2021, and 2023 urging Japan to take follow-up measures. However, Japan did not establish the promised information center until June 2020, and then placed it in Tokyo, nearly 1,000 kilometers from the island. The center has been criticized for exhibiting only materials denying its mobilization of forced labor. In 2023, a monitor was even installed asserting that Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910 was legal.