Conflict zones

摘要

The industrial ruins of Hashima, off the coast of Nagasaki, were the scene of a showdown in "Skyfall", a James Bond film. Now the battleship-shaped island is the cause of a real-life conflict. Coal from its undersea mines helped fuel Japan's development during the Meiji era of 1868-1912. The government has applied for the island, and 22 other sites, to be granted World Heritage status by unes-co in recognition of their role. But the region's lingering resentments over colonial rule by Japan and the hor- rors that it perpetrated during the second world war have bedevilled the bid. Thou- sands of conscripted Koreans were forced to work at Hashima and other sites dur- ing the war. At a meeting on May 20th with Irina Bokova, UNESCO's director- general, Park Geun-hye, the South Korean president, said that Japan's application had created "unnecessary feuds". China, which is rarely slow to berate Japan for wartime amnesia, has waded in too. A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry said that Japan was trying to glorify colonial history.