Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2017 August 23 - 29 [JCP]

JCP members of Japan-ROK lawmakers’ union hand over Shii statement on N.Korean issues to PM Lee

The supra-partisan Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union on August 21 held a meeting with its counterpart in Seoul in South Korea. Japanese Communist Party members of the Lower House, Kokuta Keiji (standing executive of the union) and Kasai Akira (executive member of the union), attended the meeting.

In their meeting, representatives of the two lawmakers’ leagues mainly discussed issues dealing with North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs.

JCP representatives Kokuta and Kasai had a talk with Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, who had been the union’s key member, at a dinner party hosted by the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union on the previous day. The JCP legislators extended their congratulations to Lee on his assuming office as prime minister and handed him a statement issued by JCP Chair Shii Kazuo calling on both the U.S. and North Korean governments to hold direct dialogue to find a way out of the seeming impasse.

In response, PM Lee said that the suggestion offered in the statement is very important and pointed out the necessity for both the Japanese and ROK governments to make a joint effort to deal with the issues.

Kokuta and Kasai also provided Kang Chang-il, the head of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union, and Kim Gwang-rim, the union’s secretary general, with copies of the Shii statement.

The two parliamentarians’ leagues agreed to have a joint meeting in Tokyo in early November to discuss ways to resolve the North Korea-related issues as well as various historical issues.

Past related article:
> Shii calls on US and N. Korea to hold direct talks without preconditions [August 12, 2017]