China's Hu to visit S Korea next week
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
CHINESE President Hu Jintao will visit South Korea next week for talks on strengthening relations and persuading North Korea to scrap its nuclear programme, the presidential office said yesterday.
Hu will arrive on August 25 and hold a summit the same day with President Lee Myung-Bak, their third meeting since Lee took office in February.
They are expected to agree detailed plans to upgrade ties and work together to get the North to denuclearise, the office said.
The two leaders are also scheduled to sign initial agreements on cooperation in energy conservation, prevention of desertification, trade information networking, state-of-the-art technologies, food safety and education.
Lee and Hu first met in Beijing in May and agreed to upgrade relations to a "strategic cooperative partnership," marked by an increase in exchanges and cooperation in diplomacy, security, economic and social issues and culture.
They met again on August 9 in Beijing after Lee attended the Olympics opening ceremony and agreed to work to speed up the denuclearisation deal.
China and South Korea, along with Russia, the United States and Japan, have been negotiating denuclearisation with the North since 2003.
In June it disclosed details of its atomic programme as part of a six-party deal, but it has not yet agreed on ways to verify the declaration.
On August 26, the Chinese leader will meet Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo, parliament speaker Kim Hyung-O and South Korean business leaders. China is South Korea's biggest trade partner.
"His South Korean trip due the very following day after the closing of the Beijing Olympics will demonstrate ever-closer bilateral relations," said presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan.
Hu's visit to South Korea will be his second while in office after he met Lee's predecessor Roh Moo-Hyun in November 2005.
Following his visit to South Korea, Hu will move on to the two Central Asian nations of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, China's state-controlled Xinhua news agency said.
While in Tajikistan, Hu will attend a summit in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional group.
AFP
Hu will arrive on August 25 and hold a summit the same day with President Lee Myung-Bak, their third meeting since Lee took office in February.
They are expected to agree detailed plans to upgrade ties and work together to get the North to denuclearise, the office said.
The two leaders are also scheduled to sign initial agreements on cooperation in energy conservation, prevention of desertification, trade information networking, state-of-the-art technologies, food safety and education.
Lee and Hu first met in Beijing in May and agreed to upgrade relations to a "strategic cooperative partnership," marked by an increase in exchanges and cooperation in diplomacy, security, economic and social issues and culture.
They met again on August 9 in Beijing after Lee attended the Olympics opening ceremony and agreed to work to speed up the denuclearisation deal.
China and South Korea, along with Russia, the United States and Japan, have been negotiating denuclearisation with the North since 2003.
In June it disclosed details of its atomic programme as part of a six-party deal, but it has not yet agreed on ways to verify the declaration.
On August 26, the Chinese leader will meet Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo, parliament speaker Kim Hyung-O and South Korean business leaders. China is South Korea's biggest trade partner.
"His South Korean trip due the very following day after the closing of the Beijing Olympics will demonstrate ever-closer bilateral relations," said presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan.
Hu's visit to South Korea will be his second while in office after he met Lee's predecessor Roh Moo-Hyun in November 2005.
Following his visit to South Korea, Hu will move on to the two Central Asian nations of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, China's state-controlled Xinhua news agency said.
While in Tajikistan, Hu will attend a summit in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional group.
AFP
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