24 April 2019 (Kobe, Japan)
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) welcomed a delegation from the Legislative Counseling Office of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea to Kobe to exchange opinions regarding the legal frameworks of Japan and Korea. The Korean delegations consisted of four legislative counselors, Ms. Ms. Kim, Su-og, Ms. Lee, Seong Im, Ms. Noh, Youjung, and Ms. Kim Yena. Dr. Son, Hyun-Jin, Associate Professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University also participated in the meeting. Dr. Son developed a report on the legal framework of Japan. ADRC's Koji Suzuki introduced several initiatives being undertaken between ADRC and Korea, which include the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI) launched by the Sejong Institute and a Collaboration for Disaster Resilience project being organized by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat. Suzuki also gave a presentation on the development of a legislative framework for disaster risk reduction in Japan, focusing on the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act. Suzuki detailed the latest developments in the legislative framework since the Great East Japan Earthquake, including the background information behind those developments. In Korea, awareness of disasters, especially earthquakes, increased significantly after the Gyeongju Earthquake of 2016. After that earthquake, the Korean government has put a lot of effort into disaster risk reduction. Some Korean parliament members visited Japan to learn more about disaster risk reduction efforts in Japan. While Japan has a bicameral national assembly system, Korea has a unicameral system. The delegation noted that the National Assembly is planning and preparing new legislation for disaster risk reduction sponsored by lawmakers in Korea.