JCP Chair sends congratulatory message to new South Korean president

   On the occasion of the inauguration of Lee Myung Bak as the South Korean president, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on February 25 sent a congratulatory message. The text of the message is as follows:

   Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on your inauguration as the 17th president of the Republic of Korea.

   You have stated that you will make utmost efforts to produce a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue through the Six-Party Talks in order to establish a new framework for peace in the Korean Peninsula. I hope that this policy will achieve success.

   In order for Japan to correctly recognize its own history and responsibility concerning the Korean Peninsula and other parts of Asia and to develop bilateral relations contributing to peace and stability in East Asia suitable for the 21st century, the Japanese Communist Party will continue to work hard.

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   JCP Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo and House of Representatives member Kasai Akira on February 25 visited the South Korean embassy in Tokyo and handed Minister Kim Young-Sun JCP Chair Shii’s message to President Lee.

   Kim expressed his gratitude and promised to immediately send it to the office of the president.

   Ogata also conveyed Shii’s message of sympathy to the South Korean people over the recent destruction by fire of the South Korean national treasure Namdaemun.

   Ogata and Kim discussed various issues, including the prospect for improved Japan-South Korean relations under the new administration and the JCP’s international relations.

   Kim requested the JCP to make efforts to provide permanent foreign residents with local suffrage. Ogata explained that the JCP is actively calling for not only giving them the right to vote but also making them eligible to run for election for local public offices, and said that it will further make efforts to achieve this.
- Akahata, February 26, 2008