S. Korean president to travel to U.S. for U.N., G-20 meetings

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will travel to
the United States next week to attend the general assembly of the United Nations,
where he will renew his call for international efforts to denuclearize North
Korea, an official at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.

The president will also head to Pittsburgh where leaders from 20 major economies,
collectively known as the G-20, will discuss ways to end the ongoing global
economic crisis.
"The trip is expected to help significantly strengthen our cooperation with the
international community as President Lee will again vow the country's commitment
to green growth and explain its firm stance and policy on the North Korean
nuclear issue," Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said of the U.N. trip.
North Korea has recently warmed up to the South and the United States, showing a
willingness for dialogue. But the South Korean president has said Pyongyang must
first abandon its nuclear ambitions.
The North currently remains under U.N. sanctions imposed shortly after its second
atomic test in May. It claimed earlier this month to have nearly completed
enriching uranium despite years of denial that it had such a program.
Lee's trip will begin Sunday when he heads for New York to attend the U.N. Summit
on Climate Change ahead of the U.N. General Assembly slated for Sept. 20-24.
"While attending the summit on climate change, President Lee will explain to the
world the country's active measures to fight climate change and pursue
low-carbon, green growth," Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.
The South Korean head of state will hold bilateral talks with U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday to exchange views on climate change and
the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.
On Wednesday, he will give a keynote speech at the U.N. General Assembly, his
first visit to the global gathering since his inauguration early last year.
"As his first official visit to the United Nations, President Lee's attendance at
the U.N. General Assembly will be an opportunity to explain our
contribution-oriented diplomatic efforts to the international community," it
said.
Lee will hold a series of bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G-20 summit as
Seoul seeks to host a fifth meeting of the forum early next year. Seoul takes the
chairmanship of the forum at the beginning of 2010.
Lee's itinerary will also include two separate meetings with Korean residents in
New York and Pittsburgh, as well as an official reception dinner to be hosted by
U.S. President Barack Obama for participants at the U.N. assembly, according to
Cheong Wa Dae.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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