The President and U.S. President Barack Obama held their first mini-summit on Apr. 2 (London time).

The President is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. next week, to discuss North Korea''s nuclear program and other pending issues.

The upcoming meeting is the second of its kind since their first bilateral talks in London in April on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit conference.

The Presidential Office of Cheong Wa Dae here said that the North Korean nuclear issue will likely dominate the summit on June 16 as tension has mounted on the Korean Peninsula since the May 25 detonation of a nuclear device by the North.

During the summit, Presidents Lee and Obama are to reaffirm their strong will to further develop the alliance and discuss ways to closely cooperate to achieve the complete and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea.

Presidents Lee and Obama are likely to discuss ways to effectively deter North Korea from proliferating its nuclear technology and ballistic missiles to other countries.

Other pending issues to be discussed during the summit are ways to cooperate in green growth and ways to facilitate the ratification procedure of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.

Seoul and Washington signed the free trade deal in June 2007, but its ratification has been delayed by pending debates in both countries. It must be ratified by lawmakers in both Korea and the United States to take effect.

Lee and Obama are expected to sign a document at the end of their summit called a "joint vision for the Korea-U.S. alliance," which will discuss steps for developing what has been mainly a military alliance into a comprehensive relationship spanning social, cultural, political and economic issues.

The summit talks between Lee and Obama will be followed by a joint press conference and a state lunch.

Right after the summit, the South Korean President will meet with ranking U.S. officials and business leaders, where he is expected to urge support for the ratification of the FTA deal.

On June 17, President Lee is to receive an honorary doctorate from George Washington University and deliver an address, before heading back home on June 18.