South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will hold a series of bilateral talks with his U.S., Chinese and Russian counterparts in Seoul next week on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G-20) leaders meeting, officials said Friday.
In their summit on Thursday, the opening day of the G-20 session, Lee and U.S. President Barack Obama plan to "reaffirm unswerving commitment," irrespective of U.S. mid-term election results that gave the Republicans the House majority, to the Seoul-Washington alliance, a senior South Korean government official told reporters on the customary condition of anonymity.
The leaders will also stress the importance once again of denuclearizing North Korea for regional peace and stability, he added.
The official was cautious on the possibility of the two leaders being able to announce a conclusive deal on the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) that was signed in 2007 but has yet to be ratified by the countries' legislatures.
Seoul and Washington hope to resolve outstanding issues on beef and auto trade before the Nov. 11-12 G-20 summit so that the leaders can declare an end to the protracted discussions when they hold a joint press conference following their meeting.
"The FTA issue is ongoing," the official said. "As consultations will continue until shortly before the G-20 summit, it is not appropriate to predict (the results)."
South Korean Deputy Minister for Trade Choi Seok-young and Wendy Cutler, assistant U.S. trade representative for Korea, Japan and APEC Affairs, continued their talks here Friday, with the trade ministers of the two sides expected to meet early next week.
In his summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao, also on Thursday, South Korean President Lee is expected to seek to warm Seoul-Beijing relations strained over differences on their approaches to North Korea, accused by Seoul of a torpedo attack on a South Korean naval ship in March that killed 46 sailors.
The official noted that it would be the first meeting between Lee and Hu since the U.N. Security Council adopted a statement in July against the attack.
A Seoul-led international probe found in May that the North was responsible for the deadly sinking, but China, the North's communist ally and the largest benefactor, has yet to articulate Pyongyang's responsibility.
"The forthcoming summit (between Lee and Hu) is meaningful in that it will be used to reaffirm a resolve to continue efforts to bolster a cooperative partnership, putting aside disputes over the Cheonan issue," the official said.
On Wednesday, Lee is scheduled to hold summit talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is making an official visit to South Korea on the occasion of the G-20 meeting. Lee and Medvedev are expected to discuss cooperation for the success of the G-20 summit and the Nuclear Security Summit to be held in South Korea in 2012 as well as regional security, according to the official.
Lee is also due to hold separate summits with the leaders of Australia, Germany, France, Brazil and Turkey on the G-20 sidelines.
The president plans to hold one-one-one talks with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan when they attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo, next weekend.
Seoul and Tokyo are in consultations to arrange their meeting, according to the official.
He said the leaders are likely to reach an agreement on the date for the return of Korea's centuries-old royal books that Japan took away during its colonial rule of the peninsula.
In August, Kan promised to return the books, known as "Uigwe," in a symbolic gesture for forward-looking relations between the neighbouring nations, but did not specify when the return would take place.
"Working-level consultations with Japan on the issue are going smoothly. There is a chance of an agreement in the South Korea-Japan summit," he said.