A three-term female lawmaker of the ruling party was elected chair of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee Thursday, becoming the first woman in South Korea to hold the job.
  

Rep. Na Kyung-won, 51, was elected with 176 out of 208 votes during a plenary session after President Park Geun-hye last week named then chairman Rep. Yoo Ki-june of the same party as minister of maritime affairs.
  

"The government and the National Assembly will communicate and work with each other to resolve various pending issues that have been building up," Na said in her acceptance speech. "I will work for the National Assembly to take the lead in laying the foundation for (inter-Korean) unification."
  

A former judge, Na began her political career in 2002 as a special adviser to then presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang.
  

She ran for mayor of Seoul in 2010 but lost in the party primaries. After the mayor resigned the following year, she ran again but this time lost to current Mayor Park Won-soon. (Yonhap)