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Saudi Ministry Launches 1st National Cultural Metaverse Platform in the World

The flag of Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The flag of Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Ministry Launches 1st National Cultural Metaverse Platform in the World

The flag of Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The flag of Saudi Arabia (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Ministry of Culture announced Friday the launch of the first national initiative in the world of the Metaverse supported by the artificial intelligence system for Generative Media Intelligence (GMI), SPA said on Saturday.
The initiative is launched in partnership with droppGroup and its World's First 'Phygital' Metaverse using Hyper ledger Fabric 2.5 block chain technology, which is represented by the Saudi Heritage Metaverse platform.
The platform offers a mix of cultural shows, performances and digital innovation powered by GMI technology, and hosts a dynamic digital environment that allows users to experience many activities and attractions "in real life".
This includes engaging cultural attractions such as the History Walk, sectors dedicated to music, art, history, culinary arts, and crafts, as well as mini-video games. The Performance Center will also stream live events including the Founding Day Commencement Symphony Concert on the ministry's Metaverse platform.
The Ministry of Culture's Metaverse platform is a fully immersive, and web-based experience ready for Mobile XR, ensuring accessibility across a wide range of devices, whether through mobile phones, VR headsets, desktops and other digital devices, as the users are guaranteed a seamless entry into the Metaverse to embody the Ministry of Culture’s commitment to inclusivity, enabling a diverse global audience to explore and participate in the rich history of Saudi culture.
This experience enables millions from the Kingdom, and from all over the world, to experience Saudi events in the Metaverse, which represents a turning point in cultural participation, and this initiative represents a major leap in the future of cultural expression and participation.

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Japan’s Sado Mines Added to World Heritage List

This photo taken on May 9, 2022 shows a mine on Sado island. (AFP)
This photo taken on May 9, 2022 shows a mine on Sado island. (AFP)
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Japan’s Sado Mines Added to World Heritage List

This photo taken on May 9, 2022 shows a mine on Sado island. (AFP)
This photo taken on May 9, 2022 shows a mine on Sado island. (AFP)

A network of mines on a Japanese island infamous for using conscripted wartime labor was added to UNESCO's World Heritage register Saturday after South Korea dropped earlier objections to its listing.

The Sado gold and silver mines, now a popular tourist attraction, are believed to have started operating as early as the 12th century and produced until after World War II.

Japan had put a case for World Heritage listing because of their lengthy history and the artisanal mining techniques used there at a time when European mines had turned to mechanization.

The proposal was opposed by Seoul when it was first put because of the use of involuntary Korean labor during World War II, when Japan occupied the Korean peninsula.

UNESCO confirmed the listing of the mines at its ongoing committee meeting in New Delhi on Saturday after a bid highlighting its archaeological preservation of "mining activities and social and labor organization".

"I would like to wholeheartedly welcome the inscription... and pay sincere tribute to the long-standing efforts of the local people which made this possible," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said in a statement.

The World Heritage effort was years in the making, inspired in part by the successful recognition of a silver mine in western Japan's Shimane region.

South Korea's foreign ministry said it had agreed to the listing "on the condition that Japan faithfully implements the recommendation... to reflect the 'full history' at the Sado Gold Mine site and takes proactive measures to that end."

Historians have argued that recruitment conditions at the mine effectively amounted to forced labor, and that Korean workers faced significantly harsher conditions than their Japanese counterparts.

"Discrimination did exist," Toyomi Asano, a professor of history of Japanese politics at Tokyo's Waseda University, told AFP in 2022.

"Their working conditions were very bad and dangerous. The most dangerous jobs were allocated to them."

Also added to the list on Saturday was the Beijing Central Axis, a collection of former imperial palaces and gardens in the Chinese capital.

The UNESCO committee meeting runs until Wednesday.