SEOUL, South Korea, (PNA) — President Benigno S. Aquino III on Friday conferred the Order of Lakandula with the rank of Officer on Jasmine Bacurnay-Lee, South Korea’s first ever National Assembly member of multicultural background.
Lee, accompanied by her two children, received the Order of Lakandula award during President Aquino’s meeting with the Filipino community in Seoul held at the Lotte Hotel before departing for Manila after his successful two-day State Visit here.
The award is in recognition of Lee’s “contributions to fostering warm and cordial bilateral relations between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea, and promoting the rights of migrant women through her civil society work and public service.”
It is also “for her leadership of the Filipino community in Korea by promoting multiculturalism and migrant women’s rights; and “for bringing pride to the Philippines through her election to the 19th National Assembly, and becoming the first naturalized Korean to be a member of the Korean parliament.”
The award is also for Lee’s “role as a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Trade and Unification and the Committee on Gender Equality and Family of the National Assembly; and “for her participation as a Korean legislator and promoting the rights and welfare of migrant communities in Korea.”
She is also being recognized “for her efforts in securing the approval of relief and rehabilitation assistance from the Republic of Korea for the victims of Typhoon Pablo in the Philippines; and for fostering goodwill and friendship between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea.”