President Lee made his debut at the 64th United Nations General Assembly meeting on Sep. 23 (New York time).

At the UN General Assembly meeting, which took place a day after the UN Summit on Climate Change, President Lee gave a key address to world leaders, in which he emphasized the UN''s role in helping the Republic of Korea to stand up on its own after the 1950-53 Korean War.

The President went on to say that now is the time for Korea to return the favor to the international community. He said that Korea had been one of the least developed countries in the world, but had transformed itself to become a donor country.

The President expressed his willingness to contribute to world peace by Korea doing its part in preventing conflicts and counter-terrorism efforts through its peacekeeping operations overseas.

President Lee also introduced Korea''s efforts to pursue development in an environmentally friendly way. Korea will come up with its 2020 targets for greenhouse gas reduction by the end of this year, even though it''s not required to do so, said the President.

He also emphasized the importance of water resources and pledged that Korea would do its fair share in such efforts by following up on the achievement of the Cheonggyecheon (Cheonggye Stream) restoration and pursuing the restoration project on the Han, Geum, Nakdong and Yeongsan Rivers.

Lastly, the President urged North Korea to immediately return to the six-party talks to restore peace to the Korean Peninsula.

On the sidelines of the UN meeting, President Lee had bilateral meetings with the leaders of China, Japan, Denmark and Australia.