President Lee Myung-bak will leave for Japan Tuesday to attend the G8 summit of major industrialized countries, the presidential office said Sunday.
Lee will be the first South Korean president to participate in the G8 summit at Toyako, a resort in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
Leaders of the G8 ― the United States, Japan, Russia, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Germany ― began their three-day summit Monday, with global warming and soaring oil and food prices atop the agenda.
On the sidelines of the summit, Lee is to hold a series of bilateral summit talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and leaders of India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Australia, the official said.
Lee has been invited to the summit, along with leaders of 13 other non-G8 countries ― China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia and a group of seven African nations.
The leaders are expected to adopt a joint declaration calling for countermeasures against climate change, which has emerged as one of the most serious threats to mankind, a Cheong Wa Dae official said.