JCP calls for suprapartisan cooperation in return of Korean cultural asset

   On October 15, representatives of the Committee for Return of the Royal Protocol, a South Korean organization calling for return of the Korean documentary heritage that Japan plundered from Korea during its colonial rule in 1922, met with Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers in the Diet Building.

   From the JCP, House of Representatives Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji, Vice Chair Kasai Akira, and House of Councilors Diet Policy Commission Chair Inoue Satoshi attended this meeting.

   Committee Director Hwemun expressed his gratitude to the JCP for paying proper attention to this issue and for sending Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo and Kasai to South Korea at the invitation of Committee Co-representative Kim Won Ung, National Assembly Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee chairman. Referring to a South Korean National Assembly resolution calling for the return of the heritage adopted last December, Hwemun requested that the Diet make a positive response.

   Kokuta stressed the importance of cooperation of all parties and said the JCP will call on other parties to cooperate on this issue.

   Chae Soo Hi, South Korean Cultural Heritage Administration’s officer in charge of international exchange who accompanied the delegation, stressed that if the cooperation of Japan’s Dietmembers leads to the return of the heritage, it will greatly contribute to not only fostering a better official relationship between the two governments, but also establishing the foundation of friendship between the two peoples.

   Accompanied by Kasai, the South Korean delegation and the government official earlier in the day visited the Foreign Ministry and requested its cooperation for return of the Korean cultural asset.

   The cultural asset Chosen Oushitsu Gigi (Joseon Dynasty Uigwe) is a collection of Royal Protocols of the Korean Dynasty (1392-1910) and is now in the possession of Japan’s Imperial Household Agency’s library.

- Akahata, October 16, 2007