By Bernama,
Seoul : President Lee Myung-bak, accompanied by first lady Kim Yoon-ok and about 120 attendants, left for the United States on Tuesday for a historic Camp David summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, which is aimed at improving their strained bilateral relations.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that in New York, Lee will meet
U.S. business leaders at a Korea roadshow and visit the New York Stock Exchange. Lee will aslo meet United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a group of Korean-Americans before heading to Washington D.C. on Wednesday.
Prior to the summit with Bush, slated for Saturday, Lee plans to meet separately with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, a group of U.S. experts on the Korean Peninsula and U.S. lawmakers in Washington.
The presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Lee will be the first South Korean president to go to Camp David, a U.S. presidential retreat. A Camp David summit symbolizes an especially close relationship between the U.S. and the nation of the invited leader.
According to sources at Cheong Wa Dae, the Lee-Bush summit is expected to address a long list of bilateral and international issues, including North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme and the U.S. proposal for the redeployment of South Korean forces to Afghanistan.
On his way home, Lee will visit Japan on Sunday and Monday for summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, said Cheong Wa Dae.
Lee will arrive in Tokyo on the afternoon of April 20 and hold a summit with Fukuda to discuss ways to promote bilateral relations, resume shuttle diplomacy and strengthen two-way cooperation in environment, energy and other global issues.