Japan has stepped up its campaign to ensure that wartime facilities housing enslaved laborers during World War Two are added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Tokyo-based broadcaster TV Asahi reported Tuesday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is sending handwritten appeal letters to countries able to vote on the 23 sites for which Japan is seeking recognition.
Seven of the sites are facilities where roughly 58-thousand Koreans were forced into hard labor during Japan's colonial rule of Korea.
Seoul has expressed strong opposition to the move, saying Japan's attempt to glorify these sites of historical aggression is clearly at odds with UNESCO's goal of honoring locations that have universal value for humanity
