By Kang Hyun-kyung
President Lee Myung-bak held talks Thursday with the leaders of Georgia and Hungary who were in Korea for the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit held earlier this week.
The two summits, held at Cheong Wa Dae, were the last in a series of 24 summit talks Lee had on the sidelines of the global gathering.
During the summit with President Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian leader expressed his country’s willingness to emulate a South Korea-style growth model. He was quoted as asking Lee to pass on South Korea’s know-how and experience to his country.
The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in trade, commerce and development assistance and increase human-to-human exchange programs.
This is the first time that a leader of Georgia has visited Korea since the two countries established diplomatic relations 20 years ago. The Eastern European country opened an embassy in Seoul last August.
After the summit, President Lee met his Hungarian counterpart Pal Schmitt for a luncheon meeting.
Lee was grateful for the support of the Hungarian leader, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee, in Korea’s winning bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
Lee and Schmitt agreed to make joint efforts to encourage more Korean firms to invest there.
In 1989, Hungary became the first Eastern European country to establish diplomatic relations with South Korea.
The Hungarian leader delivered grave concerns over North Korea’s plan to launch a satellite on a long-range rocket. The two leaders noted the North’s move is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, urging the communist country to scrap the plan.
The majority of the 24 countries that held summits with President Lee delivered their concern over the launch.