Seoul, Feb 5 (TIWN) South Korea on Friday launched a government-private taskforce to draw up a strategy against Japan's push for the listing of the Sado mine, linked with wartime forced labour, as Unesco world heritage.

Japan submitted a letter of recommendation to UNESCO earlier this week to register the former gold and silver mine, where a number of Koreans were forced into hard labor during World War II, as a heritage site. Korea was under Japan's brutal colonization at that time. 

The task force, composed of government officials from a dozen ministries and other related agencies as well as private experts, held its first meeting to discuss follow-up measures and action plans to thwart Japan's bid. 

The team is led by Lee Sang-hwa, ambassador for public diplomacy at the foreign ministry. Lee and other members of the task force exchanged views on ways to enhance public awareness on the negative historical aspect associated with the mine and drum up support from the international community in Seoul's campaign against Tokyo's bid.