South Korea’s Taiwan-Korean parliamentary friendship group made a low-profile visit to Taiwan, arriving on Wednesday and departing on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Saturday.
The delegation led by Korean National Assembly member and chair of the Taiwan-Korean parliamentary friendship group Cho Kyoung-tae visited Taiwan this week, the ministry said in a statement.
It was the first time that South Korean parliamentarians had visited Taiwan since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it said.
Photo: CNA
The ministry did not say why the visit was not announced until after the group’s departure.
The delegates met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?), the ministry said.
A banquet in the delegation’s honor was hosted by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光), during which a variety of bilateral partnerships were discussed.
The delegation also paid a visit to the Mainland Affairs Council to discuss tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the relationship between North and South Korea.
The visit was a display of South Korea’s support for Taiwan, the ministry said.
Cho has led the Taiwan-Korean friendship group since 2012, and has been instrumental in many beneficial programs, such as an agreement for the countries to recognize each other’s driver’s licenses, and a bilateral tax agreement, the ministry said.
Taiwan and South Korea are ally members of a global democracy alliance, it added.
The visit was part of a string of trips made this year by legislators and parliamentarians from the US, Europe and Japan, to show support for Taiwan amid rising tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
RSS