ID :
183423
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 05:50
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/183423
The shortlink copeid
Lee arrives in disaster-stricken Sendai on first leg of trip to Japan
(ATTN: UPDATES with Lee's arrival in Japan in paras 1-4; CHANGES headline, dateline)
By Chang Jae-soon
SENDAI (Yonhap) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in this disaster-stricken Japanese city on Saturday en route to Tokyo for an annual tripartite summit with Japan and China.
Lee's stopover in Sendai, one of the regions hit hardest in March's earthquake and tsunami, is a symbolic gesture aimed at comforting residents rendered homeless. The trip includes a visit to an area where a team of South Korean specialists had carried out search and rescue operations.
Lee's schedule in Sendai includes a lunch meeting with South Korean residents. South Korea maintains a consulate general in the city.
Lee will then join Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on a visit to Fukushima, home to the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that has 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 meet with displaced residents in a show of their sympathy and support for the neighboring nation before heading to Tokyo for a three-way summit.
The embattled Japanese government of Prime Minister Kan had hoped to hold the summit's opening ceremony in Fukushima to show the world that the region is safe and that his government is bringing the situation under control. But the proposal went awry as China opposed it.
The trilateral summit, set for Sunday, will focus on nuclear safety and disaster management, and the three nations will issue a joint leaders' declaration calling for closer cooperation in handling disasters, enhancing nuclear safety and promoting sustainable growth, officials said.
The leaders are also expected to discuss the possibility of forging 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, they said.
Lee later plans to meet separately with the Japanese and Chinese leaders on the sidelines with the three-way summit.
The main topics of Lee's meeting with the Japanese prime minister are expected to include Japan's agreement to return ancient Korean royal books, disaster management and humanitarian assistance to Japan, Seoul officials said.
The meeting with the Chinese premier is expected to include discussions on the possibility of launching bilateral free trade talks and ways to commemorate the 20th anniversary next year of diplomatic relations between the two countries, they said.
North Korea is also expected to be high on the agenda for Lee's talks with Wen, as the meeting comes after the North's leader, Kim Jong-il, has been confirmed to be making a trip to China, his third in a little more than a year.
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. 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.
By Chang Jae-soon
SENDAI (Yonhap) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in this disaster-stricken Japanese city on Saturday en route to Tokyo for an annual tripartite summit with Japan and China.
Lee's stopover in Sendai, one of the regions hit hardest in March's earthquake and tsunami, is a symbolic gesture aimed at comforting residents rendered homeless. The trip includes a visit to an area where a team of South Korean specialists had carried out search and rescue operations.
Lee's schedule in Sendai includes a lunch meeting with South Korean residents. South Korea maintains a consulate general in the city.
Lee will then join Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on a visit to Fukushima, home to the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that has 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 meet with displaced residents in a show of their sympathy and support for the neighboring nation before heading to Tokyo for a three-way summit.
The embattled Japanese government of Prime Minister Kan had hoped to hold the summit's opening ceremony in Fukushima to show the world that the region is safe and that his government is bringing the situation under control. But the proposal went awry as China opposed it.
The trilateral summit, set for Sunday, will focus on nuclear safety and disaster management, and the three nations will issue a joint leaders' declaration calling for closer cooperation in handling disasters, enhancing nuclear safety and promoting sustainable growth, officials said.
The leaders are also expected to discuss the possibility of forging 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, they said.
Lee later plans to meet separately with the Japanese and Chinese leaders on the sidelines with the three-way summit.
The main topics of Lee's meeting with the Japanese prime minister are expected to include Japan's agreement to return ancient Korean royal books, disaster management and humanitarian assistance to Japan, Seoul officials said.
The meeting with the Chinese premier is expected to include discussions on the possibility of launching bilateral free trade talks and ways to commemorate the 20th anniversary next year of diplomatic relations between the two countries, they said.
North Korea is also expected to be high on the agenda for Lee's talks with Wen, as the meeting comes after the North's leader, Kim Jong-il, has been confirmed to be making a trip to China, his third in a little more than a year.
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. 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.
