Deputy Assembly speaker to visit Japan for Abe’s state funeral

Deputy National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-suk, center, answers reporters’ questions at Gimpo International Airport ahead of his departure for Japan. [NEWS1]

 
Deputy National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-suk was set to leave for Japan on Monday to attend this week’s state funeral for late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
 
Chung will make the three-day trip to Tokyo, leading a group of lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties belonging to the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union aimed at increasing parliamentary exchanges between the two countries.
 
Eight lawmakers are travelling with Chung.
 
Later Monday, Chung’s delegation plans to meet with the leaders of Japan’s main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and Komeito, the junior coalition partner of Japan’s ruling party, and have a dinner meeting with Japanese members of the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’ Union.
 
On Tuesday, Chung plans to attend Abe’s funeral in his capacity as head of South Korea’s government delegation, together with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. The rest will not attend the funeral.
 
This marks Chung’s first visit to Japan since becoming head of the parliamentary friendship union.
 
Han, meanwhile, will hold a meeting with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on the sidelines of the funeral, according to the foreign ministry. Discussions are also under way to arrange a meeting between Han and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, officials said.
 

Yonhap