About a year after South Korean courts ordered Japanese companies to compensate for the emotional suffering of Korean wartime laborers, lawmakers from both countries Friday agreed on the need to halt the deterioration in ties and called on their leaders to resolve the stalemate at a summit.
One of the possibilities raised was the establishment of a joint fund — an idea previously rejected by the Japanese government.
"The issue could perhaps be resolved with a fund that will be supported voluntarily by Japanese businesses," veteran Diet member Takeo Kawamura, who leads the Japan-South Korea Parliamentary Union, said at a news conference after the daylong discussion.