Korea, Australia to Boost Security Ties, Start FTA Talks
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd agreed Thursday to strengthen their partnership on the North Korean nuclear issue and other global security concerns, and announced the start of talks on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).
In a joint statement issued after their summit in Canberra, Lee and Rudd pledged cooperation on a wide range of areas, including counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and military exchanges.
South Korea and Australia will ``continue to expand cooperation on global disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery,'' the statement said.
The move was construed as Korea's willingness to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a U.S.-led international effort to stop the transfer of weapons of mass destruction by intercepting ships carrying them or related materials.
The two leaders also called for cooperation in international peacekeeping operations, joint military drills and the exploration of Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft.
More specifically, they pledged efforts to sign a ``treaty-status bilateral agreement'' on the protection of classified military information to provide a framework for exchanges between their armed forces, including the trade of defense goods.
North Korea was also high on the summit agenda. Lee and Rudd reaffirmed their support for the early resolution of the North's nuclear issue, saying Pyongyang's denuclearization is ``critical to the prosperity and security of both countries.''
Korea and Australia will also hold an annual foreign ministers' meeting, a move aimed at ``continuously developing opportunities for cooperation'' and exploring ways of addressing wider regional and global issues, the statement said.
The two countries plan to strengthen cooperation in various international organizations, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament to help fight terrorism and other threats in the region.
Lee arrived in Australia Wednesday after concluding a visit to New Zealand. Today, he will leave for Jakarta, where he will hold talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on ways to increase bilateral cooperation.
In New Zealand, Lee held talks with Governor-General Anand Satyanand and Prime Minister John Key and signed an agreement to start negotiations on free trade.
Lee and Rudd discussed the global economic downturn, with both leaders expressing strong opposition against a growing trend toward protectionism. They also announced the start of official FTA negotiations.
Australia is already the seventh largest trading partner of South Korea, the world's 13th largest economy. Trade volume between the countries reached over $23 billion last year.
``The negotiations will start in the first half of the year, as the countries hope to conclude them before the end of 2009,'' said an official from the South Korean presidential office.