U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting Sunday with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to discuss efforts to ratify a free trade agreement and to coordinate strategy regarding North Korea.
Clinton met Saturday with Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan in the capital, Seoul, and told him she is determined to get the long-delayed free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea ratified.
The deal was signed in 2007 but has yet to be ratified by the two countries’ legislatures.
Clinton said the deal will move forward, saying the nations are in the “home stretch” of the agreement. She said there will be what she called “a positive outcome” that will benefit both countries.
The two also discussed ways to bring North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks. Kim said he looks forward to working closely with the United States to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.
The six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear programs have been on hold for more than two years. The talks involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.
The U.S. and South Korea say the discussions cannot resume until North Korea shows it is sincere about honoring past promises to dismantle its nuclear programs.
Clinton travels Sunday to Japan to show U.S. support for that country as it recovers from last month’s earthquake and tsunami as well as a crippled nuclear plant.
