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The President shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C. on June 15.

President Lee expressed his satisfaction at the overall developments in bilateral relations between Korea and the United States since the Obama Administration took office.

President Lee said the two countries are to adopt a future vision of the Korea-U.S. alliance during this summit, a vision which is an expression of the two countries'' willingness to upgrade the alliance into an advanced partnership.

Sharing the importance of the future vision of the Korea-U.S. alliance in advancing the bilateral relations, Secretary Clinton said that she hopes the two countries can boost the bilateral ties and jointly contribute to peace and prosperity in the international community through extended bilateral cooperation based on common values and mutual trust, and reaffirmed the United States'' firm security pledge to Korea, based on the Korea-U.S. alliance.

President Lee and Secretary Clinton discussed the fact that the international community has taken stern and unified measures to jointly respond to North Korea''s recent nuclear missile tests. They agreed to strengthen cooperation among the five other member countries of the six-party talks, including China, Japan and Russia, based on the close mutual assistance and cooperation between Korea and the United States.

In regard to the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, Lee and Clinton agreed to make concerted efforts to make developments in the free trade deal. They also agreed to closely cooperate in responding to the global financial crisis, climate change and other international issues.

The President meets U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on June 15 in Washington, D.C.

President Lee said the economic situation is showing improvement, thanks to Washington''s effort to boost the U.S. economy and financial restructuring, adding that the Korean economy is also showing looking better in recent economic indicators, despite remaining uncertainties.

For the successful hosting of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, President Lee said the summit should deal with measures to hinder protectionism, jointly respond to bad loans and come up with assistance measures to support developing and underdeveloped countries.

President Lee to hold summit talks with U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday and come back to Seoul on June 17.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer