Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in the South Korean capital of Seoul for a two-day visit on the last leg of his seven-day four-nation Asia tour that has already taken him to Japan, Singapore and China.
The visiting U.S. President is scheduled to hold a summit with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung Bak on Thursday, with a free-trade deal between the two countries and North Korea's controversial nuclear program expected to dominate the discussions. Obama is due to leave for Washington the same day.
Obama arrived in Seoul after a three-day visit to China, where his talks with the Chinese leaders did not lead to any breakthroughs regarding China's stand on trade and human rights, along with the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs. Obama concluded his China tour with a visit to the Great Wall.
"A relationship that used to be focused just on economic and trade issues is now expanding to deal with a whole host of global issues in which US-China cooperation is critical," Obama said before leaving Beijing on Wednesday.
Prior to his China visit, Obama's Asian tour had taken him to Japan and Singapore, where the U.S. President took part in the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
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