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South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak and the U.S. President George W. Bush recently held a summit at the presidential retreat, Camp David in the U.S. The two leaders met three times during the venue. Lee and Bush covered the agenda of cooperation on North Korean policies, ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement(FTA), and the visa waiver program for South Koreans planning to visit the U.S. The summit took place under the basic assumption that the two nations will reinforce their alliance. Following the three rounds of talks, the two leaders issued a coordinate press release for Korean and U.S. reporters.

On the topic of North Korea, Lee told reporters that he made it clear that Seoul and Washington will resolve the issue only through dialogue. Korea and the U.S. will be working together closely within six-party talks to convince North Korea to fully and completely give up their nuclear weapons programs as soon as possible.

As for the FTA agenda, which received most attention, Lee said the two nations will work toward a speedy passage of the free trade deal, possibly by the end of this year. “Both President Bush and I agreed that the passage of the FTA will benefit not only our two economies, but also act as a catalyst to substantially improve exchange and cooperation in all areas between our two nations,” Lee said. President Bush announced that he will convince the U.S. Congress to pass the FTA as soon as possible.

Furthermore, implementation of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program will also take place by the year’s end. “There were many difficulties for Koreans to visit the U.S. due to the hassle of getting visas to enter the country. Once the visa waiver program starts, our cultural exchange as well as our economic exchange will expand. I have high hopes,” the Korean President said.

Lee became the first Korean president to visit Camp David, an apparent indication of possible closer ties with the U.S. The South Korean President is said to have a lot in common with Bush, including religious beliefs, a strict policy toward North Korea and a commitment to market-based economic policies. Both Presidents expressed to reporters their satisfaction at the successful and fruitful outcome of President Lee’s visit, and shared the belief that the visit was significant in the development in the bilateral relationship.

Another summit talks between Lee and Bush will be held in Korea this summer. During the press conference held after their summit talks at Camp David, Lee said, “I invited Bush to visit Korea this summer. He accepted my proposal.” Bush will attend the G-8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan on July 7-9. After the meeting, he is likely to visit Seoul on July 10-11, presidential aides announced.


출처: http://www.teentimes.org/2008/newspaper/all_news.html?code=top&page=1&number=392