January 13, 2022

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira, also an executive member of the Japan-South Korea Parliamentarians' Union, on January 12 attended the New Year party in Tokyo hosted by the Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan), along with ruling and opposition parties' representatives.

Kasai in his greeting expressed his respect for Mindan's efforts to protect Korean residents' livelihoods, health, and businesses from the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to promote Japan-ROK friendship.

Kasai said that anti-coronavirus measures such as vaccine rollouts should reach out to all people living in Japan, regardless of their nationalities, as the omicron variant is currently surging in Japan. He also said that the JCP will continue to work persistently on the eradication of hate speech and the realization of foreign residents' local suffrage in cooperation with other political parties.

Kasai went on to say that the JCP will work even harder to have Japan's government abandon military response options and choose peace-oriented diplomacy by taking advantage of Japan's pacifist Constitution so that East Asia can be a region of peace and cooperation. Regarding Japan-ROK relations, he stressed the importance to go back to the spirit of the 1998 Tokyo-Seoul Partnership Declaration signed by then Prime Minister Obuchi Keizo and then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, suggesting that Japan stand firm on its commitment to sincere remorse over its past colonial rule of Korea. He expressed his determination to strive to build a true friendship based on trust with South Korea.

At the party, Kasai exchanged greetings with Yuh Keun-ie, the president of the Mindan Central Headquarters, and Korean Ambassador to Japan Kang Chang-il.