President Lee Myung-bak and First Lady Kim Yoon-ok arrived in London Tuesday (Mar. 31) for the second G20 meeting, starting a five-day visit to Great Britain.
The first couple arrived at Gatwick Airport and was greeted by Chun Yung-woo, Korea Ambassador to the U.K., and British ceremonial officers there.

President Lee, who is making his first trip to a multilateral meeting this year, will emphasize global collaboration for economic recovery, and will hold summit meetings with the United States, China, Japan, Great Britain and Australia as well. The President will discuss responsive measures toward the North Korean missile launch plan with the heads of states.

The President, meeting with British Prime Mister Gordon Brown at the latter''s office at 10 Downing Street in London, emphasized that the world economies should reject protectionism in order to rejuvenate global trade. Prime Minister Brown expressed his agreement with Lee''s idea, and said he understood the importance of trade to the Korean economy.

In answer to the Prime Minister''s question as to what should be written in the joint declaration of the G20 meeting, Lee said, "First of all, strong wording against trade protectionism is necessary. Secondly, agreement on more fiscal spending is needed, since the world economy is worse than it was expected during the first meeting in Washington D.C. International collaboration to deal with impaired assets should be mentioned, too."

The Prime Minister said he fully agreed to Lee''s first and second suggestions, but said the way to handle bad assets could vary from country to country. He instead said nations should help activate bank loans to pump up the global economy.

The two leaders discussed other pending issues, including North Korea''s expected launch of a satellite (which many suppose is a missile) and climate change.

President Lee said a large chunk of Korean government''s budget has been allotted for climate change and green growth. He also hoped that Korea and Great Britain would join hands on environmental issues.

As to North Korea''s alleged launch plan, Brown promised to work with the international community against the provocation, saying the launch runs counter to United Nations Security Council resolutions. Lee also gave weight to international collaboration and asked for the European Union''s active involvement in North Korea''s denuclearization.

The leaders also agreed to cooperate on bilateral youth exchanges, utilizing the U.K''s Youth Mobility Scheme.

"Korea and the U.K. will discuss youth exchanges through a foreign ministers'' meeting and it is expected that they would agree to exchange 1,000 youngsters annually," Presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.