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South Korean lawmakers join global human rights alliance against China

Nov. 10, 2023 - 21:19 By Kim Arin
Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China

South Korea’s National Assembly recently became the 32nd legislature to be represented in the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an association of lawmakers concerned about Beijing’s increasingly hostile behaviors.

The first South Korean lawmakers to join the cross-parliamentarian alliance are the ruling People Power Party’s Rep. Ji Seong-ho and the opposition Democratic Party of Korea’s Rep. Oh Yeong-hwan. The two lawmakers will serve as inaugural co-chairs until their tenure in the Assembly ends in April next year.

Ji, a North Korean defector who was elected to the 21st Assembly as a proportional representative in 2020, told The Korea Herald that he hoped to rally more international support against China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors detained there.

Oh, who was a firefighter before entering the Assembly, also in 2020, told The Korea Herald that he is taking part in the alliance to make a more definitive stand for human rights.