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| Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, right, attends President Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly Plaza in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap |
Chinese vice president, US vice president's spouse present
By Kang Seung-woo
High-profile foreign dignitaries from key neighboring countries, headlined by the Chinese vice president and the spouse of the U.S. vice president, attended President Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration, Tuesday.
According to Yoon's presidential office, some 300 foreign dignitaries, including 143 foreign envoys to Korea, were present at his inauguration ceremony that took place at the National Assembly Plaza.
The most notable attendee seated behind Yoon on the podium was Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan.
Wang, considered one of the closest aides to Chinese President Xi Jinping, was the highest-level official sent by the Chinese government to Seoul on the occasion of Korea's leadership change.
Previously, then-State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and then-Vice Premier Liu Yandong of the State Council attended the presidential inaugurations of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye in 2008 and 2013, respectively.
Later in the day, Wang, who had made a courtesy call the day before to former President Moon Jae-in, met with Yoon at his office in Yongsan and delivered Xi's congratulatory message.
The U.S. delegation to Yoon's inauguration ceremony was headed by Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Traditionally, the U.S. government has sent a minister-level official to its ally's inauguration ceremony, but given that a summit between Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden is just around the corner, Emhoff was tapped to head the group. Biden is set to visit Korea from May 20 to 22, with their summit planned for May 21.
It is not unusual for the Biden administration to send family members of the president or the vice president.
First lady Jill Biden led the U.S. delegation to the Tokyo Olympic Games in July 2021, while Emhoff, a former entertainment lawyer, also led delegates at the Paralympics in the Japanese city the following month, which was his first foreign trip as second gentleman.
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| President Yoon Suk-yeol shakes hands with Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, during their meeting at Yoon's office in Seoul, Tuesday. |
Along with Emhoff, the U.S. delegation included Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh, Democratic Congressman Ami Bera and Democratic Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland.
Emhoff and Walsh also visited Yoon and they discussed issues related to the upcoming summit.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi attended the ceremony in the capacity of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's special envoy. His trip to Seoul amid ongoing strained ties between the two countries was seen as a reciprocal visit to Yoon's policy consultation delegation's trip to Tokyo last month, which delivered the president's personal letter to Kishida.
The Russian government did not send a delegation and its Ambassador to Korea Andrey Kulik attended instead.
Also present were former and current heads of state ― Singaporean President Halimah Yacob, Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera and former Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Among foreign guests were Speaker of the Senate of Canada George Furey, First Deputy Chairperson of the Senate of Uzbekistan's Parliament Sodiq Safoyev, British Minister of State for Asia and the Middle East Amanda Milling, Emirati government official Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak and Saudi Aramco Chairman and Saudi Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan.
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