PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, May 30, 2019 revealed that he has been invited to visit South Korea along with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The President did not elaborate on the invitation, but stressed that he has to contemplate since a chartered flight would cost the government around P5 million a day.
"I was invited to [South] Korea again [with] President Putin," he said in a speech delivered before the Filipino community in Japan.
"I'm just trying to figure it out if it's not too much kasi 'yung iba dito, nagko-commercial [flight] lang sila. Commercial [flight] kaming lahat ngayon (because we, along with some of our delegates, just take commercial flight now)," he added.
Duterte reaped criticisms when he visited South Korea in June 2018, after he kissed a married Filipino woman on the lips.
He had dismissed the controversy that erupted, saying it was "pure showbiz" and his FIlipino supporters "enjoyed" the "simple" kiss.
In his latest speech, the President considered a kiss on the lips as just a "reward" to him.
"[South] Korea? 'Yung hinalikan ko. Siyempre, 'yun lang man ang bayad ninyo sa akin. Pero mag-halik ako, lips to lips talaga (I kissed a woman in South Korea? Of course, that's your reward to me. When I kiss a woman, I kiss her on the lips)," Duterte said.
HIs visit to the East Asian nation in 2018 yielded an estimated $4.9 billion worth of investment agreements. (Ruth Abbey Gita/SunStar Philippines)