Surprise Summit

President Park Geun-hye and President Barack Obama talk in the afternoon of Nov. 11 in the China National Convention Center located on the outskirts of Beijing.
President Park Geun-hye and President Barack Obama talk in the afternoon of Nov. 11 in the China National Convention Center located on the outskirts of Beijing.

 

President Park Geun-hye had a summit meeting with President Barack Obama in the afternoon of Nov. 11 during the APEC Summit in Beijing.

The specific schedule and agenda of any bilateral summit talks are fixed days or weeks ahead before working-level officials discuss the details. However, the Korea-U.S. summit talks at this time were an exception. Even the Presidential Office of Korea confirmed the schedule on the very day of the meeting, due in part to the busy schedules of both Presidents.

In the morning of Nov. 9, just before her departure, the Presidential Office announced that the meeting was likely to be held on Nov. 11. However, reporters at the press center in the Peninsula Beijing hotel could not get any details until noon on the 11th.

On the morning of Nov. 11, the office announced that the talks were unlikely to take place in the morning, then added soon that it was coordinating its schedule with the U.S. to hold the meeting that day. Reporters became increasingly interested in the talks, with pending issues piled up such as North Korea’s nuclear development, resumption of the six-party talks, and wartime operational control. But the presidential office was tight-lipped about specifics. It was rumored that the two sides even had a clash of opinions about the type of meeting to hold.

Some people are pointing out that this was because Washington expressed its regret about the conclusion of the Korea-China FTA and Korea’s active support for the Free Trade Agreement Asia Pacific led by China.

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