Aquino to award Filipina elected in South Korea

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III is set to award a Filipino-born Korean who has been elected to the country's legislative body.

The Department of Affairs (DFA) said the President will confer the Order of Lakandula on Representative Jasmine Bacurnay-Lee of the Korean National Assembly during his state visit that starts on Thursday.

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The DFA said Lee, who hails from Cavite and Davao City, is the first naturalized Korean to be elected to the National Assembly.

"The award is in recognition of this achievement as well as her advocacies in promoting migrant women’s rights and multiculturalism," the DFA said in a statement.

According to an online article by the Korea Times, Lee took up biology at the Ateneo de Davao University when she met her husband Lee Dong-ho in 1994.

They were married in April 1995 and moved to Korea later that year. The Filipina became a Korean citizen in 1998.