Park to visit U.S. for summit with Obama

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- President Park Geun-hye will visit the United States this week for summit talks with her American counterpart, Barack Obama, a senior presidential official said Sunday. Park will depart for Washington on Tuesday for a four-day trip, which will include a summit with Obama on Friday, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs Ju Chul-ki said during a press briefing. It will be Park's second official visit to the U.S. and her fourth summit with Obama since she took office in February 2013. "The summit is expected to be a valuable opportunity to exchange in-depth opinions on not only the South Korea-U.S. alliance but also peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia," Ju said. The two sides have been in talks to adopt a joint fact sheet and a joint statement, which will likely contain a strong message against North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons development. The meeting will be the latest in a series of summits between regional leaders, including last month's summit between Park and her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, followed by a summit between Obama and Xi. South Korea, China and Japan are also scheduled to hold trilateral summit talks at the end of this month or the start of next month. On Thursday, Park will make a rare visit to the Pentagon. In 2011, her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, became the first South Korean president to visit the Defense Department. Later that day, she will attend a lunch hosted by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, where the two sides are expected to discuss ways to boost regional and global cooperation. On Wednesday, she will visit the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as part of efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation on space issues. Park will be accompanied on her trip by 166 business leaders, the largest number to date. hague@yna.co.kr (END)