Japan will go ahead with a memorial ceremony on Sunday near the Sado Island Gold Mines, despite South Korea’s last-minute boycott of the event that highlighted tensions between the neighbors over the issue of Korean forced laborers at the site before and during World War II.

South Korea's foreign ministry has said it will not attend the memorial ceremony, in response to Tokyo's decision to send Akiko Ikuina, a parliamentary vice minister at Japan's foreign ministry, as the government representative to attend the ceremony.

The Japanese government on Sunday expressed regret over South Korea's decision not to attend a memorial ceremony in Japan honouring forced labour victims, including Koreans, at an old Japanese mine complex.

Japan will hold a memorial ceremony near the Sado Island Gold Mines, which were listed this summer as a UNESCO World Heritage site after the country moved past years of disputes with South Korea and reluctantly acknowledged the dark side of their history.

TOKYO/SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Yonhap) -- A memorial ceremony honoring forced labor victims, including Koreans, at an old Japanese mine complex kicked off as planned Sunday, with South Korea boycotting it over Tokyo's pick to send a senior official with hard-line views on history to the event.

South Korea says it will not attend a ceremony in Japan to commemorate victims of forced labor in the Sado Island Gold Mines. This comes as the two nations seek to draw together amid regional threats.

South Korea’s government says it has decided not to attend a memorial service near Japan’s Sado Island Gold Mines due to unspecified disagreements with Japan over the event, which stirred longstanding tensions over the abuse of Korean forced laborers at the site before the end of World War II.

South Korea said Saturday it will not attend a memorial ceremony in Japan honoring forced labor victims, including Koreans, from an old Japanese mine complex, amid controversy over Tokyo's decision to send a senior official with hard-line views on history to the event.