S. Korean President Lee wraps up three-nation Asia trip

By Byun Duk-kun
BANGKOK, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak headed home
Sunday, ending a three-day visit to Thailand where he attended a regional forum
hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Thailand was the last stop of Lee's three-nation tour which also took him to
Vietnam and Cambodia. The trip was geared at improving South Korea's ties with
the region under its "New Asia Initiative."
In a bilateral summit with Lee in Hanoi on Wednesday, Vietnam's President Nguyen
Minh Triet agreed to positively consider giving South Korean businesses an
opportunity to take part in two major state projects worth about US$16 billion.
The two leaders also agreed to upgrade their countries' relations to a "strategic
cooperative partnership," third of its kind for South Korea and fourth for
Vietnam.
Seoul agreed to give Vietnam a "market economy status," a move that will provide
significantly increased protection for Vietnamese businesses and products in
trade with South Korea, according to South Korean officials traveling with Lee.
In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen accepted Lee's impromptu request to extend
the duration of business visas for South Koreans to one year from the current one
month.
Seoul and Phnom Penh signed an agreement to develop a 200,000-hectare farm in
Cambodia for Korea's forest plantation program.
"Cooperation within the Asian region is crucial to overcoming the global economic
crisis. As the chair of the G-20 summit next year, South Korea will work with
great responsibilities to promote the mutual views of ASEAN Plus Three
countries," Lee said Saturday at a summit of ASEAN and its three dialogue
partners -- South Korea, Japan and China.
Lee reaffirmed South Korea's plan to more than double Korea's official
development aid to ASEAN countries by 2015 over 2008, and to contribute 150,000
tons of rice to an Asian food reserve program.
The South Korean president and the leaders of the 10-member ASEAN agreed to work
for the establishment of a strategic partnership.
"The trip to Southeast Asia helped expand the ground for our new Asia diplomacy.
Strengthening of the country's ties with ASEAN is at the center of our New Asia
Initiative that is a key foreign policy of the Lee Myung-bak administration,"
Lee's spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)