President Lee Myung-bak will sit down with representatives of the U.S., Japan, Russia and China immediately after he is sworn in on Monday. The partner for Lee's first summit will be Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Paik Sung-woon, vice chairman of the presidential inaugural ceremony preparation committee, said Sunday that after the inauguration ceremony is over, the new president is scheduled to meet with all the visiting heads of state including Prime Minister Fukuda, Uzbek President Islam Karimov, Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Meetings will then follow with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and Russian Prime Minister Victor Zubkov.
The summit with the Japanese prime minister will focus on promoting improved bilateral relations including the resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" and free trade agreement talks.
With Secretary Rice, Lee will discuss the ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, the North Korean nuclear issues and Lee's plan to visit the U.S. in mid-April.
The North Korean nuclear issues will also top the agenda of Lee's meeting with top Chinese delegate Tang. Other issues to be discussed in that meeting include the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the expansion of bilateral economic cooperation.
Lee's talks with the Russian prime minister will mainly deal with cooperation in developing natural resources.
