Assembly speaker visiting Switzerland, Spain
SEOUL, November 22 (Yonhap) – National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug was due to leave for Europe on Monday to visit Switzerland and Spain to meet with his counterparts and the leaders of international organizations.
Park will visit Switzerland Tuesday through Thursday and meet with the Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the Director General of the International Labor Organization, Guy Ryder.
At his meeting with Tedros, Park plans to discuss the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and humanitarian aid to North Korea.
The speaker will speak to Ryder about labor rights in developing countries and ask for support for former South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha’s bid to become the next head of the ILO.
On Wednesday, Park will be the first speaker of the South Korean assembly to meet his Swiss counterpart, the chairman of the National Council, and ask the country to support Seoul’s peace initiative with North Korea.
During the second leg of his trip, Park will visit Spain on Thursday to attend the 143rd Union Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.
During the meeting, he will deliver a speech on the challenges democracies face, such as overcoming divisions and building communities.
He’ll be going home next Monday.