(LEAD) Lee meets U.N. chief ahead of summit on climate change

(ATTN: UPDATES with remarks from the president, U.N. secretary general)
By Byun Duk-kun
NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak promised
Monday to help promote international efforts to fight climate change in a meeting
with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Lee said his country will soon announce its targets for greenhouse gas emission
cuts, becoming the first non-advanced nation to do so, according to South Korea's
presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
"President Lee explained plans to announce the country's voluntary greenhouse gas
emission reduction targets within the year that will help strike a deal at the
climate conference in Copenhagen in December," Cheong Wa Dae said in a press
release.
Monday's meeting came one day before Ban was set to host a U.N. summit in an
effort to generate enough force for a major agreement at the December conference
that will replace the existing framework on climate change, the Kyoto Protocol.
Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, asked Lee to continue playing a
leading role on the global issue, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
"I praise and congratulate your leadership that enabled Korea to overcome the
economic crisis before any other country in the world and successfully move
toward low-carbon and green growth," Ban was quoted as telling Lee by the South
Korean president's top public relations aide, Lee Dong-kwan.
Lee, too, praised Ban's leadership, noting the world has never faced as many or
as serious issues all at the same time as it is now facing, according to the
Cheong Wa Dae official.
Lee and Ban met earlier Sunday as well, shortly after Lee's arrival here on a
six-day visit that will also take him to Pittsburgh for the G20 economic summit.
In addition to its efforts to fight climate change, Seoul will continue to expand
its contributions to the international community through official development aid
and peacekeeping operations, Lee told Ban.
The U.N. chief said the United Nations will do what it can to help resolve the
North Korean nuclear issue and improve inter-Korean relations.
North Korea is currently under U.N. sanctions imposed shortly after its second
atomic test in May.
Ban said the final goal of the sanctions was not to punish the communist state,
but to end its nuclear issue by encouraging the North to return to the
negotiating table, according to the Cheong Wa Dae official.
Pyongyang declared in April its withdrawal from six-nation denuclearization talks
that also involve South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia.
The South Korean president was expected to call for international efforts to
bring the North back to the negotiating table Wednesday when he gives a keynote
speech at the U.N. General Assembly.
He will depart Wednesday for Pittsburgh where he will attend the G-20 economic
summit.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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