National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik said Thursday he would pursue active and effective parliamentary diplomacy centered on national interests, speaking at an appointment ceremony for the National Interest Diplomacy Advisory Committee held at the Assembly's reception room.
At the ceremony, Jo presented appointment certificates to committee chair Lee Hee-ok and other members, then offered his assessment of a rapidly shifting global order. "The world is now passing through a period of great transformation," he said. "America-first policies and the logic of power are threatening the multilateral order, while geopolitical conflicts and competition for AI technology supremacy are deepening uncertainty about the future." He added that South Korea must "respond proactively to changes in the international order, using national interest as our compass."
On the role of parliamentary diplomacy, Jo said he would designate 2026 as the inaugural year of a "national-interest diplomacy Assembly" and develop parliamentary diplomacy into one of three pillars of South Korea's foreign policy strategy, alongside government diplomacy and public diplomacy. He asked committee members to "pool their wisdom on the role and strategy of the Assembly in the areas of diplomacy and security."
Committee chair Lee said that "in an era of uncertainty and great transformation, there will be considerable difficulty in advancing national interests without the support of diplomacy," and pledged to "do our part to extend South Korea's national interests to the world, transcending the logic of ideology and political camps."
The National Interest Diplomacy Advisory Committee was established to respond to the rapidly changing international order and intensifying competition over economic security and supply chains, and to develop a mid- to long-term strategy for national-interest-centered parliamentary diplomacy. The committee plans to discuss major issues in diplomacy and economic security, formulate a mid- to long-term parliamentary diplomacy strategy, and propose improvements to parliamentary diplomacy governance to ensure systematic implementation.
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