Members attend Korea-US-Japan TLEP

A delegation of the National Assembly will attend the 15th Korea-US-Japan Trilateral Legislative Exchange Program (TLEP) held in Washington D.C. from May 7 to 11. 

The NA delegation, consisting of the leader, Rep. Hwang Jin-ha (SP), and four other members, Reps. Yoo Il-ho (SP), Shim Yoon-joe (SP), Chun Soon-ok (DP) and Chyung Ho-joon (DP), will begin their schedule by joining an official banquet on May 8. The next day, they will attend a series of four sessions to discuss politics, economy, security issues and multilateral cooperative measures. 

The 15th TLEP is expected to provide a venue for the delegates from the three countries to have a frank exchange of views. The agenda will include a range of items including political situations in Korea, US and Japan, economic and trade issues, North Korea and China, and global security. 

Founded in 1989 as a US-Japan bilateral program, the TLEP was formed in 2003 when the Republic of Korea suggested a trilateral assembly in line with the global tendency to establish a multilateral cooperative body for national security. It has thus far held closed-door meetings without interpreters for the sake of free and unreserved debates among the participants. They regularly gather three times in two years, in Washington D.C. for spring sessions, and in Tokyo or Seoul for fall sessions, and discuss agenda focused on domestic or international issues and global security. The schedule and venue of the 15th meeting were determined at the 14th convocation in Seoul last January.