Mongolia-born  Lee
Ra has become the first foreign-origin South Korean citizen elected as a
proportional representative of the Grand National Party for Gyeonggi . Lee, 33,
became a Korean citizen in 2008 after following her Korean husband to the
country from in 2003. She is a well-known advocate for the welfare of
multicultural families in Korea.

Her political goal is to build after-school study rooms
for children from multicultural homes. “I will not let married immigrants
down,” she pledged to the press after the election. Lee is the vice chairwoman
of the Married Immigrants’ Network, as well as head of the Mongolian branch at
the Seoul immigration office. She has also volunteered at a support group for
married immigrants in Seongnam run by Shingu University, where Lee began
studying industrial design in 2009.

Analysts said Lee received support from the high
concentration of married immigrants in the province. There are currently
125,087 married immigrants in Korea, with 32,578 living in Gyeonggi as of the
end of 2009.