By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
A record-breaking number of foreign dignitaries and guests from all walks of life are to attend today's presidential inauguration.
The inauguration ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in front of the National Assembly in Seoul.
More than 180 figures, including some 10 former and incumbent leaders, will attend the ceremony. A total of 45,000 people have been invited to take part in it, according to an aide to Lee.
Among the foreign delegates are Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda; U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori; Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov; Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar; Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen; former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam; former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohammad; and former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, the aide said.
Rice leads a U.S. delegation including Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler; Andy Groseta, president-elect of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association; William Rhodes, chairman of the U.S.-Korea Business Council; Korean-American football star Hines Ward; U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. B. B. Bell; and U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow.
During their stay in Seoul, the U.S. delegates are scheduled to meet top officials to discuss issues of mutual concern including the stalemate over North Korea's nuclear weapons program and the ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement struck last year, officials said.
North Korea missed a Dec. 31 deadline to disable its main atomic plants and declare all its nuclear programs under the denuclearization-for-aid pact signed on Feb. 13 last year.
Under the deal signed with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, the North is to receive 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or the equivalent in aid and other concessions in return for disabling its key nuclear facilities and providing a list of its nuclear activities.
But the communist state failed to provide a complete list of its past and current nuclear activities including its alleged uranium-enrichment program. It insists it gave the list to the U.S. government in November, a claim Washington has denied.
The trade deal between Seoul and Washington has yet to receive parliamentary approval.
Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda's attendance, most of all, signals the development of Seoul-Tokyo relations during the new administrations of the two countries, political observers say.
Ties between Seoul and Tokyo reached their lowest ebb in recent years over history and territorial disputes.
Japanese political leaders have visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine honoring war criminals responsible for heinous atrocities during World War II, despite strong protests from South Korea and China, which view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's unrepentant militarism.
Japan has also laid claim to Dokdo, South Korea's eastern most islets. In 2005, the Tokyo government approved right-wing textbooks that whitewash Japanese wartime atrocities, such as forced labor and the sexual slavery of South Korean and other Asian women, dubbed ``comfort women,'' for Japanese soldiers.
President Lee, however, has pledged efforts to renew relations with Japan.
``Korea and Japan must not be tied down by the past in order to set up a new relationship for the sake of the future of Asia and the two countries,'' Lee said during a meeting in Seoul with 10 former and incumbent Japanese lawmakers led by former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Kochi Kato earlier this month.
``The Korean government is ready to increase efforts to expand and improve ties with Japan,'' he said.
Lee expressed intention to hold a summit with Fukuda after the inauguration ceremony.
``We have four or five heads of state attending the inauguration ceremony,'' said Lee. ``Even though I have a very busy schedule, I think we can hold a summit.''
Lee is expected to make a reciprocal visit to Japan in April, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported, quoting an anonymous source. Such sentiments were relayed to Tokyo through an unspecified diplomatic channel, the report said.
China sent a 20-member delegation including State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, while Prime Minister Victor Zubkov represents Russia at the ceremony.
Several groups of parliamentary representatives from about 10 nations are also participating in the inauguration.
Also attending are about 200 high-profile foreign business leaders, including Nobuyuki Koga, president of Japan's Nomura Holdings; and Vincent Tan, chairman of Berjaya Group Berhad.
Others include Evans Revere, chairman of the U.S.-based Korea Society; former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry; Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov; Melih Gokcek, mayor of Ankara, Turkey; and almost all foreign ambassadors to Seoul.
Besides, more than 26,000 South Korean citizens are to attend the ceremony.