South Korea and Japan will hold talks this week to resolve a row over Japan's attempt to win world heritage status for industrial facilities linked to wartime Korean slave labor, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
  

Choi Jong-moon, South Korean ambassador for cultural and UNESCO affairs, will meet with Jun Shimmi, director-general for cultural affairs at Japan's foreign ministry, in Tokyo on Friday, along with relevant diplomatic and culture officials from both sides, the ministry said in a press release.
 

The meeting comes as South Korea has been pushing to block Japan's bid to list a package of 23 coal mines, shipyards and other early industrial zones as UNESCO world heritage sites. The facilities include seven sites where nearly 60,000 Koreans were forced to work during World War II.
  

Japan colonized Korea from 1910-45.
  

"During the meeting, we plan to reiterate our legitimate concern regarding the forced labor that took place at some of the facilities listed for registration and call for a sincere and serious attitude from Japan in order to stress a solution that reflects (this concern)," the ministry said.
  

South Korea proposed the meeting as member nations of the World Heritage Committee urged the two sides to resolve the issue through dialogue. Both countries are members of the committee.
  

The final decision on the UNESCO listing is expected to come during a committee meeting slated for June 28-July 8 in Bonn, Germany. (Yonhap)