U.S. President Obama due in Seoul for talks on N. Korea, FTA

By Byun Duk-kun

SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama is due in Seoul Wednesday for a bilateral summit with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak on ways to denuclearize North Korea and implement a free trade agreement signed over two years ago.

The U.S. president will arrive late Wednesday from China, one of several stops on
his four-nation Asia tour that took him first to Japan and then Singapore for the
annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Lee and Obama will hold a one-on-one meeting early Thursday, followed by an
extended bilateral summit with their key ministers sitting in, according to Lee's
presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
"The agenda for the summit will include discussions on ways to implement the
Joint Vision for the Alliance that was adopted at a June summit," a ranking
official at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae told reporters.
"But the most important and meaningful item will be North Korea and its nuclear
issue," the official added, asking not to be identified.
U.S.-North Korea relations have thawed in recent months ahead of anticipated
bilateral talks between the former foes of the 1950-53 Korean War. The talks,
Washington says, are meant to bring North Korea back to the six-nation nuclear
negotiations also attended by South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.
Pyongyang has refused to attend the nuclear talks since late last year and
declared in April that it will quit the forum. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il,
however, told the visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in September that his
country may return to the multilateral negotiations, pending the outcome of its
bilateral dialogue with the U.S.
The Lee-Obama summit on Thursday will include detailed discussions on the South
Korean president's proposal for a "grand bargain" with North Korea to
denuclearize the communist nation in one single step, instead of in phases, the
Cheong Wa Dae official said.
Another major item for the upcoming summit, at least for the South Korean side,
is a pending free trade deal signed in 2007 but yet to be enacted.
"The president (Lee) is expected to stress the importance of the FTA in that it
has been over two years since the deal was signed and it needs to be quickly
enacted," the official said.
The leaders will also discuss their joint efforts to fight climate change, as
well as ways to increase cooperation between the countries in developing new,
renewable energy.
The South Korean president is also expected to seek support for the G-20 summit
to be held here next year, the official said, noting the U.S. has twice hosted
the conference designated the world's premier forum for economic cooperation.
After the summit, the leaders will hold a joint press conference at Cheong Wa Dae
before President Lee hosts a state lunch for Obama.
Obama will head home later Thursday after visiting a U.S. military base to meet
American servicemembers stationed here.
The U.S. maintains some 28,500 troops here as a deterrent against North Korea, a
legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War that ended in a ceasefire and not a peace
treaty.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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