South Korea said Saturday it will not attend a memorial ceremony in Japan honouring forced labour victims, including Koreans, from an old Japanese mine complex, amid controversy over Tokyo's decision to send a senior official with hardline views on history to the event.

South Korea’s President Yoon had made improving relations with Japan a priority following years of disputes of the two countries’ history.

South Korea's government said Saturday it will not attend a memorial service near Japan's Sado Island Gold Mines due to unspecified disagreements with Tokyo over the event, which stirred longstanding tensions over the abuse of Korean forced laborers at the site before the end of World War II.