S. Korea joins monitoring of Bangladesh polls

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has dispatched two government officials to
Bangladesh to monitor parliamentary elections there next week, the foreign
ministry said Friday.
The two working-level officials, one from the ministry and the other from the
National Election Commission, will help support international efforts to monitor
election preparations, voting, and ballot counting, the ministry added.
South Korea has led in the creation of the Asia-Pacific Democracy Partnership
(APDP), a 12-nation group aimed at promoting democracy in the region. The APDP
sent a team of monitors to Mongolia for that country's general elections in June.
"The APDP team dispatched to Bangladesh consists of 10 officials from eight
countries," the ministry said in a press release. "It is in close cooperation
with the International Republican Institute, a U.S.-based non-profit election
watchdog."
lcd@yna.co.kr
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