Lee hopes to meet U.S. president-elect on margins of G20 financial summit: sources

By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak hopes to meet with the U.S. president-elect, either John McCain or Barack Obama, on the sidelines of the G20 financial summit slated for Nov. 15 in Washington, diplomatic sources here said Tuesday.

White House officials have said they would welcome the president-elect's
attendance at the summit to endorse any commitment to be made by lame-duck U.S.
President George W. Bush on ways to tackle the ongoing global financial meltdown.
Democratic presidential nominee Obama is leading his Republican rival, McCain, by
several percentage points in most public surveys just a week ahead of the Nov. 4
presidential election.
Gordon Johndroe, National Security Council spokesman, told Yonhap News Agency:
"We will work with the president-elect's staff, but at this time we don't expect
the president-elect to attend the meetings."
However, speculation abounds that either McCain or Obama will be attending the
crucial financial summit in close consultation with Bush in consideration of the
seriousness of the financial havoc caused by falling housing prices and the
subprime mortgage crisis.
The subsequent collapse of major U.S. financial institutions spilled over to Asia
and Europe, where not only their financial markets but also manufacturing
industries were crippled over fears of a global recession.
"I think the president-elect will think differently if he is elected, although
either McCain or Obama would not talk about the possibility of their attendance
at the financial summit at the moment," a source said. "Any such remarks will
give the impression that he is arrogant even before his election."
It is not usual for a U.S. president-elect to visit Washington to meet with
foreign heads of states before taking office in January, although the current
situation is a bit different due to the economic crisis, political analysts say.
The South Korean government may propose a meeting between President Lee and the
U.S. president-elect soon after the election, another source said, adding the
president-elect may meet with Lee and other participants collectively rather than
bilaterally.
"If the president-elect attends the financial summit, and decides to meet with
foreign heads of state, he will likely employ certain standards as all the heads
of 19 states participating in the summit might want to see him," he said.
On the possibility of the president-elect meeting with foreign heads of state,
NSC's Johndroe said, "I do not know Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain's schedules."
During the G20 summit, Bush will not have any bilateral meetings with his 19
counterparts, Johndroe said.
The Group of 20 members are South Korea, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada,
China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and the European
Union.
The G20 summit is an extension of the G20 finance ministers' meeting established
in 1999 to tackle the Asian financial crisis.
South Korea's inclusion in the summit comes amid criticism that the G8 summit of
advanced economies is not enough to quell the ongoing financial crisis in the
closely intertwined global economy.
Foreign exchange reserves of South Korea, China, Japan and other East Asian
countries have reached nearly US$4 trillion, absorbing a lion's share of U.S.
treasury bonds being issued to cover burgeoning trade and fiscal deficits.
South Korean President Lee recently talked about the need to reform the current
global financial system based the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
that was launched after World War II.
"The ongoing financial crisis shows the current financial system does not catch
up with the changes being made in the finance industry," Lee said. "Under the new
financial transaction environment, it is time for us either to greatly reform the
existing regime or to make a completely new one."