Park embarks on busy overseas schedule
By Kang Seung-woo
President Park Geun-hye will sit down with five heads of state, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, during an overseas trip this week. In addition, a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama is also highly likely.
The government is working to confirm a meeting with Obama for Tuesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China.
Park, who flew to Beijing on Sunday for the multinational forum, is set to meet Xi today.
“President Obama is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday,” a foreign ministry official said. “Although we need to discuss time, venue and conversation format with the U.S. side, a Korea-U.S. summit is likely to take place on the same day.
“The Korea-China summit talks will be put on the table during the dialogue between Park and Obama.”
He added that the government is expected to express Seoul’s stance on North Korea and Northeast Asia at the U.S.-China summit, slated for Wednesday.
Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs, also told reporters that the meeting with Obama is “highly likely” to be held on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
A possible fourth Korea-U.S. summit is expected to focus mainly on the Korean Peninsula, where tension is growing as activists continue to send anti-North Korea leaflets into the North.
An agreed-to second round of high-level talks between South and North Korea was cancelled because of the leaflets.
Park and Obama are also expected to discuss defense and security issues, including the war-time OPCON transfer, after the two sides have agreed to delay the transfer indefinitely.
A free trade agreement (FTA) deal is expected to take center stage during the fifth meeting between Park and Xi. The two nations started formal free trade negotiations in May 2012, and the two leaders agreed to work together to achieve a result by the end of 2014.
The two sides talked over the weekend in an effort to wrap up the talks before the planned summit.
“It is impossible and meaningless to predict how the talks will end up,“ presidential senior economic secretary Ahn Jong-beom told a briefing hours before Park departed.
In addition, Xi may urge Korea to join the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, a rival to the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
Park is scheduled to meet Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday to discuss ratifying their bilateral FTA deal, signed in April, and resources cooperation.
Park’s overseas trip also includes stops in Myanmar for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and in Australia for the G-20 summit.
Park will hold her first summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who assumed the position in May, on Wednesday, followed by a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Thursday.
In Brisbane, Park will discuss with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz ways to extend bilateral cooperation. The Arab state is Korea’s No. 1 energy provider and the biggest market for the major construction work.