*Administration of Barack H. Obama, 2009 *

**Remarks Prior to a Meeting With President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea in London, England **

*April 2, 2009 *

Hold on a second, let's make a brief statement. I just want to thank President Lee and his entire delegation. Korea is one of America's closest allies and greatest friends. And under President Lee's leadership, that friendship has only grown stronger. So we are very interested in discussing the economic crisis, which is the topic of the G–20 meeting. But, obviously, we also have a great range of issues to discuss: on defense, on peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, on the outstanding contributions that Korea has made with respect to the Afghanistan situation, and their global role and global leadership on issues like climate change.

So I just want to publicly say thank you to the Republic of Korea for their outstanding friendship and the close ties between our two countries.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 8 a.m. at the ExCel Center. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

*Categories:* Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : South Korea, President Lee.

*Locations:* London, England.

*Names:* Lee Myung-bak.

*Subjects:* Commerce, international : Global financial markets :: Unrest; Commerce, international : Group of Twenty (G–20) nations; Environment : Climate change; South Korea : Afghanistan, role in; South Korea : President; South Korea : Relations with U.S.

*DCPD Number:* DCPD200900214.