ID :
183422
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 03:52
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/183422
The shortlink copeid
Lee leaves for Japan for visit to disaster regions, three-way summit
By Chang Jae-soon
SEOUL (Yonhap) - President Lee Myung-bak left for Japan Saturday on a tightly scheduled trip that includes consolation visits to disaster-stricken regions and an annual summit with Japan and China aimed mainly at discussing how to work together in nuclear safety and disaster management.
Lee will first stop in Sendai, one of the regions hit hardest in March's powerful earthquake and towering tsunami, to comfort affected residents. The northeastern city was where a team of South Korean rescue specialists carried out search and rescue operations.
They were the first foreign rescue team to arrive in Japan after the March 11 disaster, and their dispatch was part of an unprecedented wave of sympathy South Koreans showed to the neighboring nation that had ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-1945.
Lee will then join Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on a visit to Fukushima, home to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant where the crippled reactors have been leaking radiation in the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
Lee and Wen will be the first foreign leaders to visit the region since the disaster.
In Fukushima, the leaders plan to comfort displaced residents in a move demonstrating their sympathy and support for the neighboring nation before heading to Tokyo for a three-way summit and bilateral meetings with each other.
The government of embattled Japanese Prime Minister Kan had hoped to hold the summit's opening ceremony in Fukushima in what appeared to be an attempt to show that the region is safe and that the government is bringing the situation under control.
But the proposal went awry as China opposed holding any official event there.
The trilateral summit, set for Sunday, will focus on nuclear safety and disaster management, and the three nations will issue a joint leaders' declaration centering on increasing cooperation in handling disasters, enhancing nuclear safety and promoting sustainable growth, officials said.
The leaders are also expected to discuss ways to facilitate joint research into the possibility of a three-way free trade agreement, as well as how to operate a joint secretariat to be established in Seoul later this year to handle cooperation projects among the countries, officials said.
Lee later plans to meet bilaterally with the Japanese and Chinese leaders.
Main topics for Lee's talks with Japanese Prime Minister Kan are expected to include Japan's agreement to return ancient Korean royal books, disaster management and humanitarian assistance to Japan, officials said.
The meeting with Chinese Premier Wen is expected to include discussions on the possibility of launching free trade talks between the two countries and ways to commemorate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries next year, they said.
North Korea is also expected to be a key topic for Lee's talks with Wen, as the meeting comes after Kim Jong-un, the heir-apparent son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, began a rare trip to China.
South Korea has also been waiting for Pyongyang's official response to Lee's offer to invite the North's leader to an international security summit in Seoul next year if Pyongyang firmly commits to nuclear disarmament.
South Korea, Japan and China have alternately hosted a three-way summit annually since 2008 to discuss cooperation issues. Their combined gross national products account for nearly 20 percent of the world's total GDP, and their combined population represents 22.3 percent of the world's population.
SEOUL (Yonhap) - President Lee Myung-bak left for Japan Saturday on a tightly scheduled trip that includes consolation visits to disaster-stricken regions and an annual summit with Japan and China aimed mainly at discussing how to work together in nuclear safety and disaster management.
Lee will first stop in Sendai, one of the regions hit hardest in March's powerful earthquake and towering tsunami, to comfort affected residents. The northeastern city was where a team of South Korean rescue specialists carried out search and rescue operations.
They were the first foreign rescue team to arrive in Japan after the March 11 disaster, and their dispatch was part of an unprecedented wave of sympathy South Koreans showed to the neighboring nation that had ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-1945.
Lee will then join Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on a visit to Fukushima, home to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant where the crippled reactors have been leaking radiation in the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
Lee and Wen will be the first foreign leaders to visit the region since the disaster.
In Fukushima, the leaders plan to comfort displaced residents in a move demonstrating their sympathy and support for the neighboring nation before heading to Tokyo for a three-way summit and bilateral meetings with each other.
The government of embattled Japanese Prime Minister Kan had hoped to hold the summit's opening ceremony in Fukushima in what appeared to be an attempt to show that the region is safe and that the government is bringing the situation under control.
But the proposal went awry as China opposed holding any official event there.
The trilateral summit, set for Sunday, will focus on nuclear safety and disaster management, and the three nations will issue a joint leaders' declaration centering on increasing cooperation in handling disasters, enhancing nuclear safety and promoting sustainable growth, officials said.
The leaders are also expected to discuss ways to facilitate joint research into the possibility of a three-way free trade agreement, as well as how to operate a joint secretariat to be established in Seoul later this year to handle cooperation projects among the countries, officials said.
Lee later plans to meet bilaterally with the Japanese and Chinese leaders.
Main topics for Lee's talks with Japanese Prime Minister Kan are expected to include Japan's agreement to return ancient Korean royal books, disaster management and humanitarian assistance to Japan, officials said.
The meeting with Chinese Premier Wen is expected to include discussions on the possibility of launching free trade talks between the two countries and ways to commemorate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries next year, they said.
North Korea is also expected to be a key topic for Lee's talks with Wen, as the meeting comes after Kim Jong-un, the heir-apparent son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, began a rare trip to China.
South Korea has also been waiting for Pyongyang's official response to Lee's offer to invite the North's leader to an international security summit in Seoul next year if Pyongyang firmly commits to nuclear disarmament.
South Korea, Japan and China have alternately hosted a three-way summit annually since 2008 to discuss cooperation issues. Their combined gross national products account for nearly 20 percent of the world's total GDP, and their combined population represents 22.3 percent of the world's population.
