President Park arrives in Washington for nuclear security summit

President Park Geun-hye arrived in Washington on Wednesday (local time) to attend the nuclear security summit. It is her first overseas trip this year, where President Park will meet U.S. President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday for a bilateral summit and Korea-U.S.-Japan summit. The heads of state will discuss plans to induce North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions, as the North is raising provocation levels despite international sanctions. Whether President Park will discuss issues of THAAD dispatch in the Korean Peninsula with President Xi is also gaining interest.

Though the heads of Korea, China and Japan are having a get together, the tripartite summit will not be held. The three met in Seoul in November last year for the first time in three years and agreed to continue talks. Due to Japan's history distortion and China-Japan territorial rights issues, however, they have yet to share common ground. In the upcoming meeting, China has refused Japan's request for a bilateral meeting.

A diplomatic source said, "China will watch Japan's attitude after its House of Councilors elections in July to decide whether to attend the tripartite meeting." Prime Minister Abe has postponed follow-up measures for collective self-defence right law, which went into effect on Tuesday, to after the elections. If Abe breaks up Lower House and carries out simultaneous elections to win, a constitutional amendment could be possible.

President Park also plans to visit Mexico between April 2 and 5 to have summit talks with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. At the departure event on Tuesday in Seoul Airport in Gyeonggi Province, Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung and floor leader Won Yoo-chul were absent due to schedules of a discussion meeting and election support, respectively. Some critics say this is due to the side-effects of conflicts over candidate nominations of the April 13 general elections.

조숭호기자 shcho@donga.com · 장택동 기자will71@donga.com