Speaker embarks on 10-day trip to Russia, 3 Baltic nations

National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, right, speaks during a ceremony to mark the 71st anniversary of the opening of the National Assembly, Monday. Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang embarked on a 10-day trip to Russia and three Baltic nations, Monday, to meet his foreign counterparts and promote parliamentary cooperation to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, his office said.

Following previous visits to the U.S. and China, Moon will visit Russia between Monday and Wednesday, to meet with Russia's lower house Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin and upper house Federation Council Speaker Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko on Tuesday. He will also deliver a speech on Wednesday during a general meeting of upper house. The speech will cover peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and cooperation between South Korea and Russia.

He will also participate in the first high-level meeting with Russian parliamentary members where they will discuss key international and local issues, as well as bilateral and inter-parliamentary cooperation in such fields as culture, education, tourism and human resources.

Moon will also visit the three Baltic nations ― Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ― from Thursday.

He is scheduled to hold meetings with key leaders of the Baltic countries, including Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.