President Roh Leaving for Bali

President Roh will leave for Bali, Indonesia to attend the 7th ASEAN+3 Summit.

Roh will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on October 7. At the meeting, the leaders will discuss how to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully as well as how to cooperate to achieve a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the region. Also, the leaders are expected to release a joint declaration to promote mutual cooperation between the three nations.

The three are said to have agreed to set a three-party committee led by foreign ministers of the countries to institutionalize collaborations among the countries. The agreement will be included in the written announcement. A Korean government official said, “The three agreed to set the committee at the working level talk in Beijing, China on October 4.” He added, “The committee will handle various fields including environment, finance, trade, and IT to make the cooperation more efficient.”

At the Bali Summit, President Roh is expected to express his strong desire to actively participate in establishing an East Asian community based on peace and prosperity as well as narrowing the development gap in the region.

On October 6, Roh will have bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. On the following day, Roh is scheduled to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hunsen. Finally, on October 8, Roh is expected to talk with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, followed by Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri

On the president’s first diplomatic tour, Minister of Foreign Affair and Trade Yoon Young-kwan, Chief Secretary Lee Jung-woo, Senior Advisor for National Security Nah Jong-il, and Minister for Trade Hwang Doo-youn will accompany him.

Jeong-Hun Kim Young-Sik Kim jnghn@donga.com spear@donga.com