Vice President Wang Qishan, widely regarded as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s right-hand man, will attend President-elect Yoon Suk-inauguration yeol’s event, according to Yoon’s inaugural committee.
Given that the country has deployed vice premier-level officials as special envoys, Wang is the highest-ranking Chinese government official dispatched for a South Korean presidential inauguration.
Former State Council Vice Premier Liu Yandong and State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan were sent to former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-inaugurations bak’s in 2013 and 2008, respectively.
“But this time, the vice president, who is viewed as President Xi Jinping’s right-hand man, will attend the ceremony,” Park Joo-sun, chairman of the presidential inauguration organizing committee, said during a televised briefing.
While congratulating President-elect Yoon on his inauguration, Park said Yoon’s transition team viewed China’s action as showing its determination to “strengthen the tie” between Seoul and Beijing.
The eight-member delegation for Yoon’s inauguration ceremony on May 10 at the National Assembly will be led by US second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris. Emhoff will be accompanied by two Democratic congresswomen, Ami Bera and Marilyn Strickland.
The Japanese government has not finalised its list of attendees, according to Yoon’s inaugural committee, however it is expected that a minister-level official will attend. Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi of Japan is widely expected to be despatched.
Around 300 international visitors will attend Yoon’s inauguration event, including Singapore President Halimah Yacob, President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera, and Russian Ambassador to South Korea Andrey Kulik. Former Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama are expected to attend.
Three former prisoners of war who were seized by the North Korean army during the Korean War and eventually fled to South Korea will be invited to an inauguration ceremony for the first time, according to Yoon’s inaugural committee.
“The inauguration organizing committee will do its best to honor the three war veterans who have returned to their homeland after half a century of being held captive and conscripted into forced labor,” the committee said in a statement.
Kelly Choi is a Korean Journalist. Kelly resides in Busan. She is currently working as a journalist at The Shining Media. Earlier she did work for some regional news media of Busan.
