Lee and Obama reaffirm economic, military alliance

Posted on : 2011-10-14 10:09 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
U.S. provides lavish hospitality to Lee through informal Korean dinner and briefing in the Pentagon ‘Tank’
 Oct. 13.
(Photo by Kim Bong-gyu)
Oct. 13. (Photo by Kim Bong-gyu)

President Lee Myung-bak listens to a briefing by top U.S. military officials at the “Tank” in the Pentagon
President Lee Myung-bak listens to a briefing by top U.S. military officials at the “Tank” in the Pentagon

By Ahn Chang-hyun, Staff Writer 

 

President Lee Myung-bak met with U.S. President Barack Obama for a summit meeting in Washington, DC, on Thursday morning (local time).

Lee, who is visiting the United States as a guest of the state, discussed major issues between the two countries including the development of their alliance and the ratification of the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA).

In a joint statement to the press after the meeting, the two countries reaffirmed the bilateral alliance to be the “lynch-pin for security” to South Korea and the cornerstone for Asia-Pacific security to the United States and said they would continue working in the future to solidify a “Pacific Partnership for Peace and Prosperity.”

In particular, the two stated their agreement that the KORUS FTA would lead to another leap forward in bilateral relations as the alliance expanded from military and national security to the economy.

Lee was accorded an unusual level of hospitality from the United States for his visit. On Wednesday evening, he was invited by Obama to dine at Woo Rae Ok, a Korean restaurant on the outskirts of Washington. The two leaders traveled to the restaurant in an exclusive car from the White House reception hall. Working-level officials from both countries had originally planned to hold the dinner at the White House due to security concerns, but Obama changed the location, saying that he wanted to meet outside to talk informally, and selected the restaurant himself, the Cheong Wa Dae reported.

“It is unusual for a U.S. president to eat the traditional food of the country of a visiting head of state,” said an official of the Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House). “It showed how firm the South Korea-U.S. alliance is.”

Earlier in the day, Lee became the first South Korean president to visit the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in the Pentagon. Lee traveled to the “Tank,” known as the “heart of the Pentagon,” for a briefing on the national security situation of the Korean Peninsula. The entire U.S. military leadership was present, including U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, and the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

It is in the Tank that military leaders control wartime situations and hand down operational orders throughout a protracted conflict.

A key Cheong Wa Dae official said, “The Pentagon invitation was both an especially courteous gesture to the leader of ally South Korea as well as a reaffirmation the U.S.’s solid national pledge to ensure the security of the Korean Peninsula.”

 

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr