Speaker Park Meets Presidential Chief of Staff

Speaker Park thanks int’l society for aid to Korea to develop into aid donor nation from aid receiving nation and meets with Presidential Secretaries

Speaker Park Hee-tae of the National Assembly at the 3rd Conference of Speakers of Parliament held in Geneva from July 19-21 warned that democracy around the world is faced with new challenges and is unable to keep up with the rapid globalization taking place around the world. “We saw a great victory of democracy in the 20th century as freedom, peace and justice had a great march forward and destroyed the walls of dictatorship and injustice,” he said in his speech at the global meeting of the world’s parliamentary speakers in Geneva. His address was titled, “Our Challenge Regarding the Global Republicanism.” “The division between the rich and the poor and the global economic crisis have become great threats to democracy. And regional conflicts and terrorist problems have been hurting democracy around the world,” the Korean parliamentary speaker said. “Now, democracies should come up with answers to solve poverty and conflicts, long-standing issues for the human race, and also create measures for recovering the democratic spirit, which has been damaged. “I would like to point to Global Republicanism as a means to supplement the global democracy, as it targets the progress of public interest before nationality and states on a global dimensional level,” he said.
“Democracy will continue to maintain its position as an eternal global spirit through Global Republicanism, favoring the common good of the human race.”
Speaker Park said the Republic of Korea is a model nation in the world that achieved both democracy and industrialization following the end of the Second World War, a precedent that is hard to find in world history.
“I really would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the international community for its support of Korea, which has now developed into an aid donor nation, and a member of the Development Aid Council, from an aid receiving nation,” the speaker said.
“With material aid and the experience of achieving democracy, Korea would like to make its contribution to increasing the global common interest.”
He said, “I would like to call on all parliamentary speakers gathered here who speak for democracy in their countries to improve cooperation and communication with each other in order to overcome more rapidly the crises that jeopardize democracy around the world. “In this regard, I would like to propose that the time and frequency of this meeting be flexibly readjusted in order to strengthen the role of the global parliamentary speakers meeting. “I hope all of you would join my and my country’s march toward peace in Korea and the world and the global joint interests,” Park urged.
In the meantime, Speaker Park met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the morning of June 19 to exchange views on the current agendas such as green growth, climate change and the UN Security Council statement regarding the Cheonan ship sinking.

Remarking on the fact that South Korea established the Global Green Growth Institution (GGGI) last month, which is preparing a low-carbon, green-growth strategy, Speaker Park said, “I ask UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to be attentive to support the propagation of the Korean role model in dealing with climate change and green growth, issues that are gaining global attention.”
In turn, Ban said, “The UN is also highly evaluating Korea’s leadership in the movement towards green growth. We already presented a plan to establish a high-level panel on global society, which handles climate change issues, and will encourage the world’s nations to follow the example of Korea in dealing with climate change in this panel.”
Regarding the UN Security Council’s response to the sinking of Cheonan, Speaker Park also expressed his gratitude towards Ban’s attention and support. The UN secretary general said, “Even though Koreans are not 100 percent satisfied, we positively evaluate the UN Security Council statement, so everyone will know the North is responsible through this statement.”
After the meeting with the top UN official, Speaker Park attended the conference and gave a speech under the theme of “Our challenge regarding the Global Republicanism: The Role of Democracy in Dynamic Korea.” On the following day, Park attended a luncheon meeting hosted by Wu Bangguo, China’s chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and talked with Takahiro Yokomichi, Japanese Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Peter Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, separately to discuss concrete cooperative measures on the current agendas in and out of the country.
In the meantime, Speaker Park received a courtesy all from new Presidential Chief of Staff Yim Tae-hee and Political Affairs Secretary Chung Jin-sok at his office in Yeouido, Seoul on July 30. The speaker told them during their 30 minute-meeting that they have big responsibilities and he is glad to have former three-term legislators assisting President Lee since they will surely be of a great help to the President.
Chief Secretary Yim answered that they will respect the role of the parliament, utilizing their long years as legislators, and do their best to have the parliament and the administration cooperate on national affairs for the interest of the people. Chung said he will explain the government’s major policies to 18 committees in the parliament before the opening of the September legislative session to create a cooperative mood between the government and the legislative branch. nw

Speaker Park Hee-tae delivers his speech at the 3rd Congress of Speakers of Parliament held in Geneva from July 19-21.

Speaker Park Hee-tae of the National Assembly, right, meets at his office in Yeouido, Seoul, with Presidential Chief of staff Yim Tae-hee and Senior Presidential Secretary Chung Jin-sok, left, in charge of political affairs, who paid him a courtesy call after their appointments.