Envoys Visiting US, Russia
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
Chung Mong-joon, the special envoy of President-elect Lee Myung-bak, arrived in Washington Monday to explain foreign and other policies of the incoming government.
Five-term lawmaker Chung will meet with senior U.S. officials in Washington and financiers in New York. He will also deliver a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush from Lee, but a Chung-Bush meeting has not been scheduled yet, according to Lee's transition team.
``The two sides are still trying to set a schedule, as President Bush has just ended his visit to the Middle East,'' a transition team official said.
Chung will discuss ways of improving bilateral alliance, ratification of Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) and Korea's entry into the U.S. visa waiver program with U.S. officials. He will also help arrange summit talks in March in Washington.
The envoy will meet with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on behalf of Secretary Condoleezza Rice, who is on a foreign trip, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
He will meet with lawmakers working on foreign affairs such as Republican senators Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar and officials of think-tank organizations in Washington.
Traveling to New York City on Thursday, Chung will meet financiers on Wall Street and journalists. He will return home Saturday.
He is accompanied by Rep. Hwang Jin-ha of the Grand National Party (GNP), former Foreign Minister Han Seung-joo and Kim Woo-sang, an international politics professor of Yonsei University and adviser to the transition team.
He is Lee's fourth envoy to the four neighboring countries of Japan, China, Russia and the United States.
Rep. Lee Jae-oh, who went to Russia as a special envoy last Saturday, delivered Lee's letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday via Putin's foreign affairs adviser. Lee couldn't meet Putin because he was on the campaign trail.
``Lee Jae-oh will mainly discuss ways to increase bilateral trade and Korean companies' direct investment in Russia with Russian officials,'' a transition team official said.
During the six-day visit, Lee will also visit Vladivostok to discuss the joint development of oil fields, the Trans-Korean Railway (TKR) and Trans-Siberian Railroad (TSR). The envoy will explain President-elect Lee's plan to forge a Northeast Asian economic community.
President-elect Lee's older brother Lee Sang-deuk, vice speaker of the National Assembly, met with Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in Tokyo last Wednesday as special envoy. The older Lee confirmed a shared view to strengthen economic relations during his four-day visit to Japan.
Park Geun-hye, former chairwoman of the GNP, returned home Saturday after meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao last Thursday.