Park to hold first summit with Obama on May 7

By Lee Chi-dong and Chang Jae-soon WASHINGTON/SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye will visit Washington early next month for her first summit with U.S. President Barack Obama, both countries announced, a meeting expected to focus on how to rein in an increasingly rancorous North Korea. The U.S. visit, which will begin with a stop in New York on May 5, will be Park's first overseas trip since she took office in February. That underlines the significance she attaches to the relations with the United States, South Korea's most important ally. Park will then move to Washington for summit talks with Obama at the White House on May 7. North Korea is expected to top the agenda for their talks. In Washington, the White House said in a statement that Park and Obama will "discuss a broad range of economic and security issues, including continued cooperation on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and countering the North Korean threat." South Korea's presidential office also said the two leaders are expected to discuss how to work closely together to denuclearize North Korea and maintain a firm deterrence against the communist nation as Pyongyang "continues provocative actions, including strengthening nuclear and missile threats." Since early March, North Korea has sharply raised tensions with near-daily threats of war in anger over fresh U.N. sanctions adopted for its third nuclear test in February, as well as over U.S.-involved annual military exercises in the South. Pyongyang has voided the Korean War armistice and nonaggression pacts it signed with South Korea decades ago, cut off all cross-border hotlines before declaring it was in "a state of war" with the South, and threatened to launch nuclear attacks on the South and the U.S. It also vowed to restart a long-mothballed, plutonium-producing nuclear reactor at its Yongbyon complex to bolster its atomic arsenal, and suspended operations at a jointly-run factory complex in its border city of Kaesong. It has even warned foreigners in the South to come up with evacuation plans. Last week, Park proposed dialogue to resolve the crisis. But North Korea reacted negatively to the offer, calling Park's proposal "nothing but a crafty trick" and "an empty word." During a visit to Seoul on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also called for dialogue, saying Washington is prepared for talks if Pyongyang is ready to live up to its international obligations and standards and makes it clear it will move to denuclearization as part of the talks. Other key issues expected to be on the table at the summit include how to revise an expiring agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation between the two countries. The sides have been in talks to rewrite the nuclear accord set to expire in March next year. The 1974 agreement bans Seoul from reprocessing spent fuel because it could yield plutonium that could be used to build atomic bombs. Now, Seoul wants Washington to allow it to use a proliferation-resistant technology for enriching uranium and reprocessing spent atomic fuel. Washington has been reluctant to do so apparently because of proliferation concerns. Experts said the Park-Obama summit would serve as a good chance to build a personal relationship. "It's always a good sign for the leaders of our countries to meet and ensure that the alliance remains strong," Mitchell Reiss, president of Washington College in Maryland said. "I am sure that North Korea will dominate the bilateral agenda," added the former senior State Department official. "But there are other issues that should not be neglected, including trade and commerce, ROK-Japan relations and China's increasing assertiveness over the past few years across the East Sea." This year marks the 60th anniversary of the alliance between South Korea and the U.S. The White House said Park's visit will "highlight the growth, breadth, depth and strength of our alliance, our increased global cooperation, the deep economic ties between the United States and the Republic of Korea and the strong bonds of friendship between the American and Korean people." The Republic of Korea is South Korea's official name. While in Washington, Park may have a chance to address a joint meeting of Congress. Two U.S. congressmen -- Steve Israel (D-NY) and Ted Poe (R-TX) -- formally asked House Speaker John Boehner to invite Park to deliver a speech for the session. They cited Park's historic election as South Korea's first female leader and the significance of the Seoul-Washington alliance that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War. While in New York on May 5-6, Park plans to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and hold a meeting with South Korean residents there, Park's office said. The three-day visit to Washington also includes a business roundtable meeting hosted by U.S. Chamber of Commerce as well as a meeting with South Korean residents. On the way home, Park plans to stop in Los Angeles for a meeting with the city's mayor and a meeting with South Korean residents there before returning to Seoul on May 10, the presidential office said. jschang@yna.co.kr lcd@yna.co.kr leechidong@gmail.com (END)