Park Heads to Russia To Attend Economic Forum and Summit with Putin

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye is set to leave for Russia today to take part in an economic forum and a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The forum and the summit are part of hey eight-day trip which also includes trips to China and Laos.

Yonhap News reported that Park will attend the yearly Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) during her two-day stay in Vladivostok. During the EEF, leaders talk about methods to improve regional cooperation in developing Russia's resource-rich Far East.

For this year's EEF, the main theme will be "Opening up the Russian Far East" and will assemble an approximate of 2,500 participants from 32 countries that include Japan, China, and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Blue House said that on the second day of the forum on Saturday, The South Korean leader will deliver a speech highlighting her vision for cooperation with Russia concerning the development of the Russian Far East.

Park and Putin will meet in a summit after the forum to discuss cooperation on various issues such as joint efforts to denuclearize North Korea and control its provocations. Global issues like climate change and terrorism are also included on the agenda.

Russia, together with China, has strongly voiced out its opposition to the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, claiming that the deployment would only worsen regional conflicts and threaten security interests.

Observers said that Park will more likely emphasize that the THAAD deployment is an imminent, self-defense standard to protect South Korea against the North's nuclear and missile provocations and that the THAAD will only focus on North Korea. Park is also expected to use the summit as a way to restore trust with Moscow.

Park will then travel to Hangzhou, China for the G-20 summit of advanced and emerging economies. The two-day event is scheduled to begin on Sunday and will be held with the theme, "Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy."

After the summits, she will then head to Laos for her official visit, which was organized on the invitation of Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachith.