SEOUL: South Korean National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik will be in Singapore for a three-day visit from Jan 18 to Jan 21 at the invitation of Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng.
Woo, who had earned the nickname “Thor” for holding the parliamentary gavel steady during South Korea’s 2024 martial law crisis, will also call on Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during his visit.
In South Korea, the Parliamentary Speaker holds the second-highest office in the nation, after the president.
In an interview with The Straits Times, Woo said he hopes for the visit to “serve as a turning point to further solidify the South Korea-Singapore strategic partnership at the parliamentary level and expand the horizon of practical cooperation”.
He noted that 2025 had marked the 50th anniversary of South Korea-Singapore diplomatic ties, which were elevated to a strategic partnership level in November, with both sides pledging deeper cooperation in areas such as politics, security and the economy.
Through Seah’s visit to South Korea in February 2025 and the World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in July, the two Speakers had built up a “deep friendship”, said Woo. He added that he hoped his visit would serve as a “strong bridge opening a new chapter in the next 50 years of Korea-Singapore relations”.
Woo’s visit to Singapore comes about five months before his term as Speaker ends in May 2026.
His two-year term was nothing short of eventful.
He was propelled into the national spotlight after he was photographed scaling a gate in his rush to the National Assembly as lawmakers moved to overturn former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s shock declaration of martial law on Dec 3, 2024.
The 68-year-old was voted by South Koreans as the most trustworthy politician in the aftermath of the crisis, and was even seen as a potential presidential candidate to replace Yoon. Current President Lee Jae Myung eventually won the June 2025 snap elections in a landslide victory.
On Jan 6, Woo received the Baekbong Gentlemen Award for the second consecutive year, an honour for lawmakers deemed to have demonstrated integrity and exemplary conduct in their legislative work, as determined by a panel of South Korean political journalists.
Woo told ST that he did not view the award so much as a recognition of his individual achievements but “rather an honour bestowed upon me on behalf of all those who overcame the constitutional crisis”.
He said that Yoon’s martial law declaration was not just a matter of political judgment but “a grave act of national betrayal” that undermined the constitutional order.
Former president Yoon is facing a total of eight trials related to the debacle, with a Seoul court sentencing him to five years in prison on Jan 16 on the charges of obstruction of justice. A separate insurrection charge, for which prosecutors are seeking a death penalty, is due for verdict on Feb 19.
With months left in his term, Woo is pressing for constitutional reforms to tighten the conditions under which a leader can declare emergency martial law, aimed at ensuring that such a political crisis can never recur.
“As head of the legislative branch, I regard the protection of the Constitution and democratic order as my foremost responsibility,” said Woo.
“Once the legal judgments on the martial law incident are concluded, our politics must move towards restoring cooperative governance through dialogue grounded in collective reflection and introspection,” he added. - The Straits Times/ANN
