President Lee Myung-bak and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed Monday
to continue to cooperate closely to ensure various economic projects between the
two countries go ahead smoothly, the presidential office said.
As part
of the efforts, the two leaders agreed to conclude a temporary labor pact at an
early date that will help South Korean people to do business in the Central
Asian nation under fewer restrictions, the office said in a statement.
On the sidelines of the summit, the two countries also signed a memorandum of
understanding on a joint project to minimize the loss of electricity in the
course of transmission and distribution in Kazakhstan, the statement
said.
Nazarbayev is one of more than 50 world leaders who have
gathered in Seoul to attend the Nuclear Security Summit that is opening later
Monday. The conference is aimed mainly at discussing ways to keep nuclear
material away from the hands of terrorist groups.
Lee and Nazarbayev,
who have built a close friendship while holding summit talks with the Kazakh
leader every year since Lee took office in 2008, expressed satisfaction that the
strategic partnership between the two countries has substantially moved forward,
the office said.
Lee expressed gratitude for Kazakhstan's support for
Seoul's efforts to make the nuclear conference a success, praising the country
for trying to help produce a better outcome from the gathering, especially on
the issue of nuclear material disposal, it said.
Nazarbayev spoke
highly of Seoul's preparations for the global conference, it said.
Presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha said the two leaders shared common concerns
that North Korea is too closed off from the outside world, and that its people
are suffering and its economy cannot move forward.
Nazarbayev stressed
that nuclear states should show "good will" and called for discussions at the
United Nations or other forums to establish a reward system for countries that
give up nuclear weapons, the spokesman said.
Kazakhstan is one of the
nations that voluntarily abandoned its atomic weapons.
Lee said the
international community should speak to North Korea with one voice, Park
said.
Nazarbayev offered a basket of chocolate and fruit as a birthday
present for South Korean first lady Kim Yoon-ok, the spokesman said. Kim turned
65 on Monday.
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