South Korean President Lee Myung-bak headed Friday to an ancient Russian city to attend an international policy forum launched by President Dmitry Medvedev, where he will present a vision
for the development of global democracy.
On the sidelines of the Global Policy Forum in Yaroslavl, 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow, Lee and Medvedev will hold summit talks on ways to
denuclearize North Korea and deepen "strategic cooperative partnership" between Seoul and Moscow, Lee's aides said. It would be their fourth summit.
"The main agenda items of the summit include how South Korea and Russia will cooperate for the peace of the Korean Peninsula and reinforce
cooperation in Eastern Siberia," an area rich in natural resources, said a senior secretary at Lee's office, Cheong Wa Dae.
Lee plans to emphasize the need to set up a "peace community" for the stability of the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asian region, and that
the denuclearization of North Korea is a prerequisite for the goal, he added.
In their summit in Moscow in 2008, Lee and Medvedev agreed to upgrade the relations of the two countries to a strategic cooperative partnership.
The leaders will discuss how to further develop the ties toward a forward-looking relationship, the secretary said.
It is uncertain whether they will discuss the sensitive topic of a South Korean naval ship's sinking in March, for which Seoul blames Pyongyang.
Russia dispatched a team of its own investigators in early June, but it has not made public the results of the probe.
Meanwhile, Lee plans to address some 500 politicians, business leaders and experts at the Yaroslavl forum, an annual gathering the Russian
president initiated last year in a bid to expand his political influence at home and abroad.
This year's session will be held under the theme of "The Modern State: Standards of Democracy and Criteria of Efficiency."
In his keynote speech, Lee plans to unveil his vision for the democratic development in the new social and economic conditions of the 21st century, Cheong Wa Dae officials said.
The president will explain that his fair society policy aimed to guarantee equal opportunities for everyone is an "ethical and practical infrastructure" for South Korea's efforts to become an advanced nation, they said.
Lee will also propose South Korea and Russia elevate the level of their regular dialogue channel, officials said.
Lee is to wrap up his two-day stay in Russia later Friday.