BERLIN (AFP).- The UN's cultural body on Sunday conferred world heritage status on a number of new sites including some seen as representative of Japan's industrial revolution, as South Korea lifted its opposition to the listing.

UNESCO's World Heritage committee added 23 sites considered representative of Japan's industrial revolution under Emperor Meiji (1868-1910) to its vaunted list, at a meeting taking place in the western German city of Bonn until July 8.

Tokyo's bid to have the sites listed -- including a steelworks, a shipbuilding yard and a coal mine -- had touched off a diplomatic spat because South Korea and China say that seven of them became centres for deportation and forced labour during their respective Japanese occupations.

But the Japanese delegation said it was prepared to acknowledge that and "incorporate measures ... to remember the victims such as the establishment of (an) information centre".

Given the assurance, Seoul said it would not block the Japanese bid.



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