South Korea’s parliamentary speaker could propose holding a meeting with his North Korean counterpart at next week’s Constitution Day speech, a parliamentary source said Sunday, as part of efforts to restart high-level talks between the two countries.
National Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa could propose meeting with Kim Yong-nam, the North Korean parliamentary speaker, as well as talks between lawmakers from North and South Korea, Choi Hyung-du, Assembly spokesman, said.
“This is nothing new. The Speaker has been considering the plan for months,” Choi said.
Chung had said in an April interview with The Korea Herald that he could propose an inter-Korean meeting on Constitution Day this year.
Constitution Day marks the anniversary of the founding of the South Korean government on July 17, 1948.
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| Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa. (Yonhap) |
But details to Chung’s speech Friday remain uncertain. Chung could refrain from making the proposal and instead stress the need for the two Koreas to improve ties in an attempt to pressure the North to agree to high-level talks within the year, Yonhap News Agency reported Sunday.
“Nothing about the speech is set in stone as of this moment,” Choi said.
“But again the idea of proposing inter-Korean parliamentary talks has always been floating.”
By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)
