Lawmakers aim to pass bills to cope with disputes with Japan

Lawmakers hold a plenary session at the National Assembly in this Aug. 2, file photo. Korea Times file.

By Park Ji-won

Lawmakers are pushing to pass bills to resolve the forced labor issue and Japan's trade regulations against Korea amid a worsening diplomatic row with Japan.

Opposition lawmakers plan to submit a bill to the Assembly by the end of this month together with Japanese lawmakers on compensating the victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule.

Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party (BMP), wrote in a Facebook message that a group of Korean lawmakers, Ha and Reps. Hong Il-pyo and Khang Hyo-shang of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and Baek Jae-hyun of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), was approached by Masaharu Nakagawa, an independent Lower House representative, about the idea on the sidelines of an international conference on North Korean human rights held in Spain last month. Reps. Nakagawa, Shu Watanabe of the Democratic Party for the People and Hiroyuki Konishi of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan were also at the scene, Ha said.

The key of the bill is to decide which party would compensate the victims. Korean and Japanese lawmakers came up with two ideas during their meeting in Spain: one is to form a joint fund by the South Korean and Japanese governments, as well as relevant companies of the two countries and the other is to form a fund by South Korean and Japanese governments and relevant Japanese companies, according to political sources.

It is still unknown which idea will be chosen. Lawmakers of both countries, however, are having discussions to fine tune the details of the bill. However, Baek of the DPK was cautious about joining the move as it might be against the government and the DPK's direction over the matter.

Hong, who plays a key role in the legislation here, said earlier that lawmakers from Korea and Japan shared the understanding that resolving the Seoul-Tokyo conflicts is largely dependent on how to compensate the victims of forced labor.

Rep. Lee Won-wook of the DPK submitted a revision bill Thursday to delay the implementation of the mandatory 52-hour workweek at the smaller firms with 50 to 299 staff members until 2021 and with five to 49 staff members until 2024, which was supposed to be carried out next year and July 2021, respectively, likely to prepare for the Japan's trade regulations as those smaller firms find it difficult to deal with the sudden trade uncertainties, insiders say.

Rep. Kim Chung-woo of the DPK, submitted a bill to prevent foreign investment firms linked to Japanese firms involved in Japanese war crimes from winning the government contracts in a possible move to protest the Japanese government's decision to emplace “retaliatory” trade curbs on Korea.