SEOUL, March 17 (Yonhap) -- National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo has met with the Palestinian prime minister and asked for support for South Korea's plan to bid for nonpermanent membership of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) for 2024 and 2025, Kim's office said Friday.
Kim met with Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in Ramallah, the de facto administrative capital of the State of Palestine, on Thursday (local time).
In response to Kim's request, Shtayyeh said Palestine will vote for South Korea's UNSC membership and round up support of other Arab nations, noting that Palestine values friendship with South Korea and remembers South Korea's support for Palestine when it obtained nonmember observer state status at the U.N. in 2012.
Kim also asked for support for South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in the southeastern port city of Busan and discussed improving bilateral economic cooperation.
Meanwhile, Shtayyeh asked for Seoul's attention on Palestine's status in the international community and the long-standing dispute with Israel, and Kim said he wishes for permanent peace based on the "two-state solution," which envisions establishing an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel.
Ahead of the meeting, Kim visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel in remembrance of the Jewish victims massacred during World War II.
Kim's visit to Palestine was part of his 11-day trip to four nations, including Turkey, Italy and Israel.
Source: Yonhap News Agency