The foreign ministry abruptly canceled a briefing Friday on a ceremony set to be held in Japan on Sunday to honor laborers at the Sado mines, including Koreans forced to work there during the Japanese colonial period.

The cancellation came less than two hours after Japan’s foreign ministry announced that Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Akiko Ikuina will attend the ceremony as a representative of the Japanese government. 

Seoul is believed to have suddenly called off Friday’s briefing after belatedly learning via media reports that Ikuina visited the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, in 2022. 

Seoul has become the target of criticism because it appears not to have known about Ikuina’s visit to the shrine, despite a series of consultations with Tokyo on who should attend Sunday’s event. 

Some observers have said it would be inappropriate and an insult to the Korean victims and their bereaved families if an official who visited the Yasukuni shrine were to represent the Japanese government at the ceremony.