Presidential Tour

[Anchor Lead]

President Park Geun-hye leaves Korea Friday to attend the Eastern Economic Forum and the Group of 20 summit. She will also hold meetings with her counterparts of the U.S. and China on the sidelines of these international gatherings. During the eight-day tour, the president is expected to try to secure international cooperation for discouraging North Korea from nuclear development.

[Pkg]

President Park Geun-hye will leave for the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok to attend the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Friday. On Saturday, she will hold a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[Soundbite] Kim Kyu-hyun(Senior Presidential Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Security) : "The summit will serve as an occasion to boost South Korea-Russia cooperation on the North Korean nuclear issue, when the North is continuing to make provocations in violation of UN Security Council resolutions."

Park will then fly to the Chinese city of Hangzhou to attend the Group of 20 summit, which will open on Sunday. She will hold a series of summits with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Italy on the sidelines of the G20 summit. In particular, Park is scheduled to hold a bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, raising the expectations for the improvement of the two countries' relations that have been strained over the THAAD missile defense system issue.

[Soundbite] Kim Kyu-hyun(Senior Presidential Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Security) : "The president will stress that the international community should continue cooperation in persuading North Korea to make the right choice by sending a clear message that its nuclear program is unacceptable."

On next Wednesday, the president will visit Laos to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. During her stay in Vientiane, she will likely meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in addition to the scheduled meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama. At the summits held during the tour, Park will explain why South Korea has decided to house the THAAD system while working to consolidate international cooperation for making North Korea give up its nuclear ambition.