Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2022 November 2 - 8 [JCP]

JCP lawmakers attend general meeting of Japanese and S.Korean parliamentarians’ unions

Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers Kasai Akira (House of Representatives) and Kami Tomoko (House of Councilors) attended a general assembly of the Japan-South Korea and South Korea-Japan parliamentarians’ unions held on November 3 in Seoul.

Kasai serves as an executive of the Japan-South Korea Parliamentarians’ Union.

The general assembly organized six committees and held discussions under the themes of national security and diplomacy, economy and science, society and culture, legal standing, future, and women's issues.

JCP Kami spoke at the social and cultural committee and the women's issues committee. Japanese and South Korean parliamentarians in the former committee confirmed that they will work to further promote personal and physical exchanges in the areas of audiovisual and youth cultures. They also confirmed that they will increase their efforts to cultivate a better understanding of each other’s history and culture. Those in the latter committee affirmed that they will promote mutual cooperation aimed at tackling gender pay gaps and problems associated with the use of non-regular workers, in addition to the advancement of women’s political, economic, and social status.

In the legal status committee in which JCP Kasai spoke, both nations’ parliamentarians confirmed that they will continue working together in order to make Japan’s anti-hate speech legislation which was established in 2016 more effective and to push the Japanese government to provide permanent foreign residents with local suffrage.

The assembly adopted a joint statement that strongly condemns North Korea’s missile launches and calls for an early restoration of bilateral relations based on the spirit of the 1998 Tokyo-Seoul Partnership Declaration signed by then Japanese Prime Minister Obuchi Keizo and then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

During their stay in Seoul, the two JCP lawmakers held talks with South Korea’s ruling party lawmakers, and Kasai exchanged greetings with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin.

The two offered flowers to an official memorial altar set up near the Seoul City government office building to pay tribute to the victims of the recent Halloween tragedy in Itaewon.

Past related article:
> Dialogue in sincere manner is important: JCP Kokuta in meeting with S. Korean parliamentarians [August 1, 2019]