President to send ranking legislators as special envoys to ASEAN

SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak will dispatch ruling party
lawmakers to the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) as his special envoys ahead of his summit with ASEAN leaders in
June, an official at the ruling Grand National Party said Friday.

"President Lee initially expressed his intention to send politicians as his
special envoys while meeting with party chairman Park Hee-tae on March 23, and he
has decided to dispatch special envoys to ASEAN nations ahead of the Korea-ASEAN
summit to be held on Jeju Island on June 2," the official said.
The legislators will include Huh Tae-yeol, a member of the party executive
committee, who will embark on a four-day trip to Thailand and Myanmar on May 6,
along with Rep. Cho Hae-jin.
Representatives Gong Sung-jin and Hwang Young-cheul, both close confidants of
President Lee, will travel to Indonesia and Brunei, while Rep. Park Soon-ja, a
party executive committee member, will visit Singapore and the Philippines, along
with Rep. Kim Young-woo.
The June summit between Korea and ASEAN is an ambitious diplomatic initiative by
Seoul, which is seeking to significantly improve its relations with Asian nations
under what it calls a "New Asia Initiative."
The South Korean president was set to hold dialogue with the 10-member ASEAN,
that also includes Malyasia, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, in Thailand earlier this
month, but the annual summit was called off due to anti-government protests
there.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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