South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa returned from Lusaka, Zambia after attending the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in the African country from March 14-23 for talks with parliamentary officials. They gathered there to strengthen ties with lawmakers from IPU member countries, his office said recently. The international gathering took place from March 19-23 in Lusaka, Zambia.

The trip marks the first official visit to the country by a South Korean parliamentary speaker. In his speech at the IPU meeting, Speaker Chung called for further development of democracy to enable younger generations to have stronger rights to speak their minds and pave their way into politics with stronger voting rights. They should also be able to participate in politics online, among the mediums, to strengthen their voices.

Besides visiting Zambia, Chung Ui-hwa also visited South Africa during the 10-day trip to take part in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) assembly. While in South Africa, he held a session with the leaders of the Justice and Harmony Institute to learn South Africa’s successful experience in integrating its society between the whites and natives with the institute set up by such popular South African leaders as Nelson Mandela in an effort to build a systematic base for their country’s social integration. He also called on key leaders of the African nation including Chairperson Thandi Modise of National Council of Provinces, Speaker Baleka Mbete of the National Assembly and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to learn how they were able to achieve national unity among the different peoples in their country, especially the top leaders’ roles in social integration with South Africa successfully foing away with apartheid. 

The speaker also pushed for closer cooperation with the African country’s finance, aviation, and transportation infrastructure sectors with South Korea, in particular, the economy and development through cooperation between the legislative branches of the two countries. He also asked for an improvement in the regulations and other measures so that Korean business firms can invest more in South Africa. Speaker Chung was the first legislative leader to visit the African country, thanking South Africa for its participation in the Korean war (1950-53) to help South Korea to defend against the Communist North Korean invasion and further solidify the cooperative relations between the parliaments of the two countries.

The assembly, which ran from March 19 through 23 in Lusaka, brought together more than 650 lawmakers from around the world, according to the IPU. The international organization of parliaments has 167 members and 10 associate members.

Chung met with his Kenyan counterpart on the sidelines of the assembly to help South Korean firms play a greater role in Kenya's massive infrastructure project, LAPSSETTI, which also involves South Sudan and Ethiopia. It starts from Kenya’s Lammu Harbor, and is part of Kenya’s massive infrastructural project, “Kenya Vision 2030.” The mammoth project is to be completed with a total investment of $29 billion.

The speaker, moreover, met with his Indian counterpart to discuss ways to further boost bilateral relations. He sought his help to further strengthen the bilateral ties between South Korea and India, which was already upgraded to “Special Strategic Partnership” when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Seoul in May, last year in response to President Park Geun-hye’s visit to New Delhi in January 2014. He also sought ways to conclude the CEPA, which the two countries agreed to wrap up officially by June.

The IPU said lawmakers attending the conference will seek to identify ways to reverse low voter turnout and a waning youth interest in formal politics.

"We as parliamentarians must ensure that we breathe new life into politics and parliaments, with young people at the heart of that process," IPU President Saber Chowdhury said on the website of the IPU.