South Korean parliamentarians on Wednesday submitted a bill to invite donations from Japanese and South Korean companies and the public to provide funds for compensation over Japanese wartime labor conscription.

The 14 lawmakers, including National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee Sang, said in the bill that they aim to develop future-oriented South Korea-Japan ties by offering solutions to resolve ongoing feuds over issues relating to history.

(Civic group members stage a protest in front of the National Assembly in Seoul on Nov. 27, 2019, against a bill, prepared by Speaker Moon Hee Sang, that would create a fund to compensate wartime labor victims with contributions from the South Korean and Japanese governments as well as companies and the public.)

The submission of the bill comes as South Korean President Moon Jae In and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are arranging to meet next week on the fringes of a trilateral meeting in China.

The Supreme Court last October ruled that Japanese firms should compensate South Korean plaintiffs for wartime labor conscription.

The companies have not complied as Japan holds that such issues relating to Japan's 1910-45 colonization of Korea were "finally and completely" settled under a bilateral treaty signed in 1965.

Tokyo has been urging Seoul to take action to remedy the situation in which the bilateral accord has been breached.

Moon's bill faced huge opposition before submission from a team of lawyers working for the South Korean plaintiffs as they view it as not clearly seeking Japanese contrition.

In Japan, concerns had grown that the Japanese firms sued in the lawsuits would be effectively forced to make their contributions, although the bill states that donations should be made on a voluntary basis.

Japan initially sought to resolve the spat through bilateral consultations and by setting up a panel involving a third country in accordance with the 1965 accord. But South Korea did not respond.

In June, South Korea made a proposal to create a fund with contributions from both Japanese and South Korean companies. But Japan rejected it.

The feud has spilled over into trade and security issues.

But the Asian neighbors averted the termination of a military intelligence-sharing pact last month as South Korea retracted its earlier decision.

They have also held talks between senior officials over Japan's tightening of export controls on some South Korea-bound products.

Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the condition of bilateral relations remains "severe."

As for the bill in South Korea, the top government spokesman declined to specifically comment, only saying it is a development in another country's legislature.

"It is important for South Korea to keep promises between states and create an opportunity to turn the bilateral relationship into a healthy one," he said.