(LEAD) Lee, Rudd vow joint efforts on N. Korea, economic crisis

(ATTN: RECASTS headline; UPDATES with remarks from the leaders and additional
details in paras 3-6)
By Byun Duk-kun
SINGAPORE, Nov. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd agreed Saturday to work together to draw up
joint exit strategies for the world economy to be implemented when the right time
comes.

The agreement came at a bilateral summit held here shortly before the start of
the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
The bilateral meeting began with discussion on the recent naval clash between
South and North Korea near their disputed maritime border in their western Yellow
Sea.
"We saw the recent incident with North Korea and wanted to express our solidarity
to our friends of South Korea," Rudd offered in words of support at the start of
his summit with Lee.
The South Korean president said his country was continuing to analyze the
incident to find out what the communist North's true intentions were.
The latest naval skirmish that took place Tuesday did not result in any South
Korean casualties, but the area was the same site of a 2002 clash that left
dozens of armed servicemembers from the two sides injured or killed.
South and North Korea technically remain at war since the 1950-53 Korean War
ended only with a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.
Lee and Rudd sought to bolster their cooperation on other international issues as
they agreed to take joint efforts to fight the ongoing global economic crisis.
"The leaders of the two countries agreed the Pittsburgh session of the G-20
economic summit was a successful meeting that helped establish detailed plans for
sustainable and balanced growth and solving problems facing the world economy,"
Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.
"The two leaders agreed to continue working closely together to promote and
implement the outcome of the Pittsburgh meeting of the G-20," Cheong Wa Dae said.
"Especially, (they) agreed to work together to promote international cooperation
in developing a joint framework and exit strategies that will take into
consideration conditions facing each country should the world economy recover
next year," it added.
South Korea assumes chairmanship of the G-20 summit, the premier forum for
international economic cooperation, and hosts a meeting of the group in Seoul in
November next year.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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