Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Seoul-Tokyo trade dispute pressurizing LKP leader Na
Rep. Na Kyung-won, right, floor leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, talks with Reps. Jeong Yong-ki, center, and Cheong Yang-seog at the National Assembly, last week. Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
The Liberty Korea Party (LKP), the country's main opposition party, is nowhere to be seen as a trade dispute is heating up between South Korea and Japan.
The party was hoping to play a role of “helper” to President Moon Jae-in as lawmakers of the LKP contacted Japanese lawmakers to meet with them in hopes of finding common ground to resolve the deepening dispute.
But the party's efforts went in vain as Japanese lawmakers who were contacted have yet to accept the offer, according to LKP officials who are knowledgeable on the matter.
Since last Thursday, Tokyo has restricted exports of parts needed to fabricate semiconductors and next-generation flat-screen displays. The move is mostly aimed at harming South Korea's advanced tech industry. This comes as Seoul has been demanding compensation for Korean forced laborers during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation.
LKP leader Na Kyung-won “pledged” the party will push for meetings with Japanese lawmakers, separate from their meetings with South Korea's foreign ministry.
Claiming that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to take any concrete actions to counter on the issue, the LKP official told party members they will play the roles of “helper” and “mediator” in making inter-parliamentary meetings happen. Na invited the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party to support the move, stressing that it was a part of “bipartisan efforts.”
But her pitches have been widely regarded as hype tactics for “political gain.”
“I have been told nothing by Na or the LKP about the issue,” said Rep. Kang Chang-il, chief of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union, who is also in charge of parliamentary interactions with Japan, last week. He added that it's also highly unlikely Japan will accept the request.
Critics also said the LKP isn't in the “right position” to push for such bipartisan efforts.
“It is odd for the LKP to take such an initiative as traditionally, it is the role of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians' Union, which has so far been led by a ruling party lawmaker,” a local political source said.
In a similar case, some LKP lawmakers at the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee visited Japan in May this year for meetings with Japanese lawmakers. However, they returned home empty-handed. In February, LKP lawmakers refused to join discussions with the Assembly's representatives for meetings with U.S. politicians in Washington, D.C., ahead of the second in-person encounter between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi.
“The LKP is making its own political moves just to impress its supporters,” a DPK lawmaker said. “The party should stop spreading its wishful thinking.”