Korean President Lee Myung-bak will visit the Detroit area next week with U.S. President Barack Obama, a presidential aide here said Saturday, in what appeared to be a trade-related schedule.
Lee and Obama are scheduled to visit the heart of the U.S. auto industry on Friday, a day after they hold a summit meeting in Washington, said the presidential aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Detroit trip by the two presidents appears to be related to a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), on which the U.S. Congress is expected to affirmatively vote during Lee's visit to the U.S.
"President Lee will visit Detroit together with Obama after finishing his schedule in Washington," the presidential official said.
Earlier, U.S. media, quoting White House officials, reported that the two presidents will visit the Detroit area together but didn't say where exactly in the city they will visit.
The South Korea-U.S. FTA, signed in 2007, has been pending largely because of U.S. complaints about what it called a lop-sided imbalance in auto trade. The agreement was re-written late last year to address the U.S. concern.
Despite domestic criticism, South Korea's ruling Grand National Party (GNP) plans to ratify by the end of this month at the latest.
Opposition parties demand re-negotiations, arguing that the deal is too much in disfavor of South Korea.
In an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress scheduled for Thursday, Lee will stress that the FTA will solidify the alliance and greatly help promote trade which reached US$90.2 billion in 2010.
For the U.S., the FTA with South Korea is the biggest since the North American FTA put into force in 1994. (Yonhap)