Lee meets children from quake-hit Sichuan

SEOUL, May 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met Sunday with a
group of children from China's Sichuan Province, where he made an unscheduled
visit last year after an earthquake there left nearly 90,000 people dead or
missing, his office said.
The meeting with 20 children in Seoul at the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae,
was arranged after a nine-year-old boy whom Lee had embraced during his visit
sent him a letter expressing hope to meet him again, it said.
Lee was in China in May last year for a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao
three months after he took office in Seoul. South Korea doled out millions of
dollars and sent dozens of workers to aid the region's recovery from the
7.9-magnitude quake.
"South Korea is a good neighbor that can help when China is in need," the office
quoted Lee as telling the children.
The children performed traditional Chinese dances for Lee while officials from
the Sichuan provincial government presented him with a folk painting during the
meeting, Cheong Wa Dae said.
The May 12 earthquake -- the deadliest in China in decades -- razed large
portions of Sichuan and surrounding provinces, leaving 5 million people homeless
and the region still in need of help.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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