A U.S. cable TV channel, C-SPAN, has aired the speech delivered by President Roh Moo-hyun at the opening ceremony of the 17th National Assembly.

Roh's address on early Thursday morning, Korean time, was broadcast with simultaneous interpretation.

In an announcement ahead of airing the address, the cable channel noted that Roh's appearance in parliament on the occasion of the launching of the new National Assembly was the first time he had set foot there since last March, when the outgoing parliament passed an impeachment motion against him.

C-SPAN is a private, non-profit public service cable channel, which provides live coverage of Congressional proceedings and public policy forums.