The UNESCO World Heritage committee on Saturday decided to register Japan’s controversial Sado gold mine as a cultural heritage site after the country agreed to include it in an exhibit of its dark history of abusing Korean laborers during World War II.

• The decision signals an improvement in ties between Tokyo and Seoul. 
• The mine on an island off the coast of Niigata in northern Japan operated for nearly 400 years and was once the world’s largest gold producer before closing in 1989.
• It was also linked to Japan’s wartime abuse of Korean laborers.