South Korean parliament passes resolution urging support for Turkey, Syria

The National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday passed a resolution on relief efforts for quake-struck Turkey and Syria.

The resolution, adopted at the committee’s plenary session convened the same day, urged the South Korean government to provide sufficient emergency relief and recovery support for damages suffered due to the earthquake.

The resolution also called on measures to ensure the safety of Korean residents there as well as travelers in the event of disasters overseas.

Tuesday’s passage of the resolution comes a week after Rep. Kim Tae-ho, leading the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, shared his condolences in a letter to Turkey’s National Assembly.

“My committee will do its utmost to ensure that the Korean government will be prompt in providing humanitarian assistance,” Kim said in the Feb. 7 letter addressed to Akif Catagay Kilic, chair of the Turkish National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee.

He also said in the letter, “I hope that the Turkish people, whom we Koreans regard as our brothers and sisters, will recover from the damage as early as possible.”