S. Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Hopes to Visit Japan

Seoul, Dec. 9 (Jiji Press)–South Korean National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik has expressed his hope to visit Japan at an early date to boost exchanges between the two countries’ lawmakers. “I hope to exchange views frankly about developing future-oriented bilateral relations” with the heads of Japan’s lower and upper chambers of parliament, Woo said in talks with Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Koichi Mizushima at the National Assembly in Seoul on Monday. It would be Woo’s first visit to Japan since he became National Assembly speaker in June last year. Woo praised the frequent so-called shuttle diplomacy, or mutual visits by the two countries’ leaders to each other’s nation. Mizushima welcomed Woo’s intention to visit Japan. “The two countries’ lawmakers have supported Japan-South Korea relations, both in good times and bad times.” Considering the strategic situation surrounding the two countries, cooperation between Tokyo and Seoul is “essential,” Mizushima stressed. At the meeting, Woo requested the Japanese government’s cooperation in an ongoing survey of the Chosei undersea coal mine in the city of Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, where a flooding accident that occurred during World War II claimed the lives of 183 people, including those from the Korean Peninsula. A civic group has carried out diving surveys to recover the remains of the victims from the now-defunct coal mine. Woo called on Japan to positively consider assistance measures at the government level, citing measures such as conducting DNA examinations for the remains and ensuring the safety of the survey. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]