Korean National Assembly Speaker Chung Se-kyun poses with foreign parliamentary leaders, including Indian House Speaker Sumitra Mahazan, during their meeting designed to discuss the 2nd Eurasian Parliamentary Summit in Seoul on April 2. (Photo: National Assembly)

Speakers and vice speakers from about 30 European and Asian countries will assemble in Seoul from June 26 to 28 to participate in the 2nd Eurasian parliamentary summit.

The summit, to be jointly hosted by the Korean National Assembly and the Russian House, at Seoul Lotte Hotel, will take place under theme “Enhancing Cooperation among Parliaments for Promoting Co-prosperity in the Eurasian Region.”

Among those on hand at the highest-level parliamentary summit in the whole of Eurasia are Korean National Assembly Speaker Chung Se-kyun; Chairman Vyacheslav Viktorvich Volodin of the State Tuma of Russia; Speaker Jan Hamacek of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the CzechRepublic; Speaker Nurlan Nigmatulin of Mazhilis of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Chairman Ali Ardeshir Larijani of the Parliament of Iran; and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of the House of Representatives of the Philippines.

The summit will be attended by parliamentary leaders from the Commonwealth of Independent States, four “Visegrad Group” countries, ASEAN countries, China, India and Mongolia. 

During the conference, participants are expected to explore ways of promoting common understanding of economic and commercial cooperation, cultural and personnel exchanges, environment, and regional cooperation issues in the Eurasian region, as well as parliamentary collaboration. 

The summit will start with a meeting of a drafting committee for a joint declaration on June 26, followed by a welcoming dinner, to be jointly hosted by the Korean and Russian national speakers. Korean President Moon Jae-in will host a dinner for the participating parliamentary leaders, and Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon will deliver a commemorative speech at an opening ceremony on June 27 on behalf of President Moon. 

Korean National Assembly Speaker Chung, Russian Chairman Volodin, and other speaks and vice speakers will deliver keynote speeches at the plenary session of the summit. The participating parliamentary leaders will adopt a joint declaration, calling for their determination to jointly address regional issues and detailed development initiatives. Speaker Chung plans to hold bilateral talks with the participating parliamentary leaders. The parliamentary leaders will tour the Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the last leg of the summit on June 28.

The Korean National Assembly floated the idea for the summit and the Russian parliament accepted the proposal. The parliaments of the two countries inaugurated the first Eurasian parliamentary summit in April 2016. They decided to hold the 2nd rendition of the summit in Seoul.

The Korean National Assembly’s hosting of the 2nd Eurasian parliamentary summit is expected to improve the Korean parliament’s standing and roles in multilateral parliamentary diplomacy; to enhance cooperative relationships with Eurasian countries, which are more important diplomatically and strategically to complement Korea’s diplomacy, which focuses on four global powers; and to secure support to the holding of parliamentary talks of the six-party parliamentary talks on North Korean nuclear issues and inter-Korean speakers’ talks, Korean organizers said. 

The Korean parliament’s joint hosting of the first and second Eurasian parliamentary summits will likely contribute to upgrading relations between Korea and Russia. 

Kazakhstan is to be selected as the venue of the next Eurasian parliamentary summit, which will takes place in 2018.

Speaker Wants to Put Constitutional Revision on 2018 Referendum

Speaker Chung, marking one year in office, designated the revision of the Constitution as the top task he will implement during his remaining term. He said in a news conference at the National Assembly on June 13 that now is an opportune time for a constitutional revision. Chung, stressing the division of power in constitutional revision, suggested that the parliament should approve a constitutional revision this year, as it has agreed, and put it to a referendum, which will coincide with the upcoming local elections, slated for next year.