U.S. President Barack Obama is going to South Korea, where he will attend a summit on nuclear security on March 26-27, visit the demilitarized zone on the border between the two Koreas, and also hold a series of bilateral negotiations, including with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Pakistan Yusuf Gilani, RIA "Novosti" reports.
As the deputy presidential adviser on strategic communications Ben Rhodes previously reported, the head of the U.S. will arrive in Seoul on Sunday morning local time, and the main purpose of his visit will be discussing problems of nuclear safety with the heads of the countries participating in the summit. "This trip will affect the two topics related to our national security: nuclear safety and nonproliferation, as well as aspects of the U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region, whose importance is growing for us ... The arrival of the President in Seoul is scheduled for the morning of March 25," Rhodes says.
Even before the opening of the summit on Sunday, Obama will visit the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel into two halves - the North (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the South (the Republic of Korea). Its width is 4 km, and its length is 241 km. Because the military conflict that began between the DPRK and the Republic of Korea in 1950 ended with the signing of an armistice, not a peace treaty, formally the countries are still at war. "The first thing the President will do upon his arrival in Korea is to visit this area. It will be a unique opportunity for the President to see the conditions under which U.S. troops are serving, as well as to demonstrate the status of our allied relations with the Republic of Korea and to reaffirm commitment to the security regime," the White House says. After a visit to the demilitarized zone, the President will meet with U.S. military personnel from among the 30-thousand U.S. troops stationed on the Korean peninsula.
"Then, Obama will hold the first bilateral meeting - with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They will discuss a range of issues including regional security, the situation in Syria, support for political reform in the Middle East and North Africa, and the situation in Iran," Rhodes says.
On Sunday Obama is scheduled to meet with the leadership of the Republic of Korea, in particular with President Lee Myung-bak. The theme of these meetings will be the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as trade partnership between the U.S. and Korea.
Among the most important bilateral meetings the White House spokesman mentioned the negotiations with the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "It will be one of the important meetings. These negotiations will be the last during Medvedev’s current presidential term, and the parties will use the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues. Among them will definitely be Iran, Syria, North Korea and regional security issues ... , nuclear security, trade relations, and the access of American business to the Russian market," Rhodes says. According to him, the U.S. expects that the meeting between Medvedev and Obama will be successful.
As the Russian Presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko told journalists in Moscow the day before, Medvedev will also discuss with Obama the issues of missile defense. According to him, the meeting is planned to last for two hours. "The presidents will discuss the results of bilateral cooperation. We will express gratitude for the support for Russia's entry to the WTO," Prikhodko says. As he adds, among the issues of military-technical cooperation between the two countries it is planned to discuss the problems of missile defense, the situation in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. "Despite the progress achieved in Russia's relations with the United States, there remain many difficult issues to resolve, and consistent work on their solution is going on. In particular, there is disagreement on such an important topic as the deployment of U.S. missile defense in Europe. Russia demands from the U.S. clear safeguards based on objective geographical and technical criteria, that the system will not be directed against Russia," the Presidential aide says.
He also notes that Moscow and Washington differ in their opinions on a number of international issues - above all, on a settlement in Syria. "During the forthcoming meeting the parties will discuss in detail the evolving situation in the country with the aim of promoting peace in the region and sustainable development," he says. The White House also notes "tactical differences" between the U.S. and Russia in regards to Syria, but hopes that the parties can agree on this issue, and existing differences will not disturb the forthcoming negotiations of the heads of state. In particular, a spokesman for the White House, Jay Carney, spoke optimistically about the prospects for the meeting of the two presidents at a press briefing on Friday.
The upcoming meeting with the American leader will be the last for Medvedev as head of state in his current term of office. Obama, like his Russian counterpart, was elected president in 2008 and intends to run again in November, and Medvedev is expected to head the Russian government. The next meeting of the two leaders will be held on the margins of the G8 summit in the U.S., if Vladimir Putin, who by this time will lead the country, will go there. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reports that Putin and Obama agreed to meet shortly after the inauguration of the Russian leader, which will be held on May 7.
The U.S. president also plans to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
"They will have a bilateral meeting. Of course, we do not stop consultations with China on all issues. At the upcoming meeting we will continue discussion of economic issues, which have remained the main topic during the past three years; security issues will also be mentioned, as well as regional and global issues," Rhodes says.
On Monday and Tuesday, Obama will attend the second summit on nuclear security. The first one, convened on the initiative of Obama, was held in Washington in 2010. The summit in Seoul, according to the White House, is designed to summarize the results of the work that has been accomplished since 2010. The third summit on nuclear security will be held in 2014.
