Park invited to address U.S. Congress meeting

The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, said yesterday he will invite South Korean President Park Geun-hye to address a joint meeting of Congress on May 8.

Park, who last December was elected as the first woman president of South Korea, will also hold talks with President Barack Obama on May 7.

Boehner says that Park’s speech to Congress will be a vital reminder of the U.S.-Korean partnership at a time of provocations from North Korea.

She will be the sixth South Korean leader to address a joint meeting of Congress. The last foreign leader to speak to Congress in October 2011 was the former President Lee Myung-bak.

The Blue House also confirmed the event. According to the presidential office of South Korea, Park will evaluate the six decades of the Korea-U.S. alliance and introduce political, economic, social and cultural developments of Korea during that period.

She will also talk about her visions to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, the next direction of the Korea-U.S. alliance and other global issues.

“It is the first time since 1945 that leaders of the same country will address the U.S. Congress consecutively,” said Kim Haing, Park’s spokeswoman.

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave speeches in 1941 and 1943, and his successor Clement Attlee addressed the Congress in 1945.

By Ser Myo-ja, AP [myoja@joongang.co.kr]