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| National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, second from left, and floor leaders pose before holding a meeting at his office in the National Assembly, Monday. From left are, Reps. Lee In-young of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Moon, Na Kyung-won of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party and Oh Shin-hwan of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party. Yonhap |
By Park Ji-won
A bipartisan push to improve frayed relations between South Korea and Japan following Tokyo's export restrictions targeting companies here will likely face a bumpy road ahead as Korea's political parties are finding it difficult to narrow their political differences. This is in contrast to the united front being shown by their Japanese counterparts.
Floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party (BMP) had agreed Monday to adopt a resolution during the current National Assembly session calling on Japan to reverse the export controls, and to send a delegation of lawmakers to Japan to discuss the issue.
The cooperative moves were the first made at the Assembly since Japan imposed the measures July 4 tightening restrictions on the export to South Korea of resource materials for high-tech products. The move was seen as retaliation against a Supreme Court ruling here that ordered Japanese companies to compensate Koreans force to work for them during Japan's colonial rule of the peninsula.
However, the plan, especially regarding the meeting with their Japanese counterparts, appears to have become a non-starter as the parties began to argue over their differing stances on the issue.
The ruling DPK has urged Japan to withdraw the trade retaliation while pledging to pass the government's supplementary budget to boost the domestic economy. The LKP and the BMP have joined the call for Japan to rescind the measure, but are also blaming the government for letting the situation happen, and using this as leverage to step up their political offensives against the administration.
Due to this, it is largely expected the parties will be unable to fine-tune the details of a joint resolution in the immediate future, and thus delay the meeting with Japanese lawmakers.
Insiders suggested the reason behind the discord between the parties may lie in the structural limitations of the South Korean political system.
"Japan is governed by the ruling party. So it is easier for all the parties to unify their opinions into one channel. However, it is impossible for South Korean political parties to have one opinion nor play as a diplomatic channel independent from the administration," a DPK lawmaker familiar with the matter said.
Some point out that the political circle have been too lazy in cultivating connections with Japanese lawmakers.
"There used to be various channels between the neighboring countries, party-to-party exchanges, for example, but currently there are not many ties with Japan," a BMP lawmaker said.
"Some lawmakers even think the visit will be fruitless, and that it is simply a show for the South Korean people to make it seem lawmakers are meeting with their Japanese counterparts to tackle the current difficulties."
