Islamabad, 11 February 2022 (TDI): Former South Korean foreign minister, Kang Kyung-Wha visited Pakistan for a two-day tour to gather support for her campaign for the incumbency of Director-General of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
During her stay, she met with the Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and other high-ranking officials of Pakistan and discussed her aims and future course of action, if she gets elected as the Director-General of the ILO.
The Former Foreign Minister of the Republic of #Korea, Kyung-wha Kang visited #Pakistan and called on Mr. Muhammad Ayub Afridi, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development to discuss bilateral issues. @kyungwhakang @SenatorAyub pic.twitter.com/zEFp8cL7Ei
— Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Pakistan (@KoreaEmbassyPK) February 11, 2022
Pakistan and South Korea have always had friendly diplomatic ties, which saw an uptick during Kang’s tenure as foreign minister due to increased high-level talks to encourage trade and investment for Korean firms, climate change cooperation, increased development assistance, and increased people-to-people contacts.
Kang has emerged as a formidable competitor with extensive expertise in diplomacy as well as other sectors such as human rights and disaster recovery. She was South Korea’s first female foreign minister, serving from 2017 to 2021, and previously held various UN positions such as Deputy Human Rights Chief, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and Senior Policy Advisor to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The new Director-General ILO will be elected on March 25th and will take office in October 2022. Kang, if chosen, will be the first female DG ILO of Asian ethnicity. Said position has formerly been held by males from Europe and the Americas.
According to the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Suh Sangpyo, Kang’s strong view on the necessity of guaranteeing a human-centered approach, respecting diversity, and human rights in the workplace, make her eligible for the role of DG ILO.
The Korean Ambassador also mentioned the possibility of boosting Pakistan’s yearly work quota, which is presently set at 1,000, due to the great performance of Pakistani employees. Every year, South Korea hires foreign workers from developing states to work in labor-scarce industries such as agriculture and stockbreeding, fishing, construction, and manufacturing.
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