Floor leader Lee to lead US delegation

Rep. Lee Hahn-koo, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, speaks during a press meeting at his office in the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday, shortly after he was tapped to lead a high-level delegation that President-elect Park Geun-hye will send to the United States. / Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

President-elect Park Geun-hye on Friday appointed ruling Saenuri Party floor leader Lee Hahn-koo to lead a four-man policy consultation team that will visit the United States, days after her special envoy met the incoming Chinese leader.

The other three appointments are Rep. Na Seong-lin and two transition team members, namely Profs. Lee Chung-min of Yonsei University and Hong Yong-pyo of Hanyang Unversity.

During a briefing on the team, Park’s spokesman Park Sun-kyoo said Rep. Lee, an economist-turned-lawmaker, has a deep understanding of Park’s foreign policy principles and her campaign pledges. “Both Profs. Lee and Hong were also deeply involved in formulating the president-elect’s campaign pledges and thus I believe she will have reached a conclusion that they are the right choices to discuss policies with the U.S. side,” he said.

The team will head to Washington sooner or later but a specific departure schedule has yet to be decided, he said.

The spokesman cautioned that Rep. Lee is not an envoy, asking reporters to be careful not to refer to him as such.

Park noted that he is the head of a policy consultation team, saying there are differences between the two terms. He declined to give further details on his assigned role.

An official from the floor leader’s office said on condition of anonymity that the delegation are not people who simply deliver Park’s message for the United States, stressing that they will “do more” than that.

Park added that Washington has asked Seoul to send a delegation to discuss various issues with the U.S. government.

“The two sides will discuss policy directions in the new administrations in Korea and the United States and ways to deepen bilateral ties as well as other issues of mutual interest,” the spokesman said.

Park said communication between the two sides will continue whether the South Korean team will meet U.S. President Barack Obama or not.

Analysts say, the two sides will discuss North Korea because tensions are mounting after the North fired a long-range rocket in December and issued provocations by threatening to conduct a third nuclear test.

The team is also expected to discuss the South Korea-U.S. summit that is likely to be held in the first half of this year.

The South Korean team’s scheduled visit to Washington comes after the U.S sent its delegation to Seoul led by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell earlier this month.

In a congratulatory message delivered by a delegation, Obama was quoted by the spokesman as saying, “Close cooperation between the two countries will play a key role in effectively dealing with the North and other major issues.”

Earlier this week, a former lawmaker, Kim Moo-sung, visited China as a special envoy of the President-elect and met with the country’s next leader Xi Jinping and other top officials.

When asked about further plans to send special envoys to other countries, the spokesman said, “We will not unilaterally send envoys. If there are requests from other countries and if it is needed, we will dispatch envoys.”