South Korea's Lee: World economy recovering quickly

South Korea said Wednesday it expects China to cooperate on easing global economic imbalances and other contentious issues at next week's G20 summit in Seoul.Beijing knows "balanced global growth is beneficial to all countries. I'm positive that China will be cooperative in handling various issues at the G20 summit," President Lee Myung-Bak told a press conference.Lee said earlier this week he is hopeful of resolving vexed trade and currency disputes at the November 11-12 Group of 20 summit, which follows a meeting last month of the grouping's finance ministers.

Today Secretary Gary Locke and the congressional delegation concluded their three-day trip to Seoul with a visit to the Demilitarized Zone – the border between South and North Korea – and a lunch with U.S troops and their families at Yongsan Garrison to thank them for their service. The group also met with leaders of South Korea’s Democratic Party and Grand National Party at Korea’s National Assembly to discuss the U.S.-South Korea Trade Agreement (KORUS). “Over the last few days we have had the opportunity to see first-hand the benefits that KORUS will bring to the economies of both the U.S. and Korea,” Locke said. “There is great demand for U.S. products -- from made-in-America cell phone components to life-saving medical equipment. This agreement will increase mutually beneficial trade, strengthen our economies and create jobs in both of our countries.” Locke also visited Seoul National University Hospital for a demonstration of Varian Medical Systems’ (Palo Alto, Calif.) advanced radiotherapy technology.  Varian is the world leader in this life-saving, cancer treatment technology with approximately $34 million worth of annual sales to South Korea.  Their equipment is manufactured in California and Utah and exported globally. Under the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement, the tariff on Varian’s products would be eliminated, making the company more competitive in the Korean market. 

ETF Database submits: South Korea is home to one of the world’s most unique and promising economies, thriving off of its status as a tech leader as well as proximity and strong relationships with many of Asia’s rapidly-expanding emerging markets. But constantly looming over South Korea is the unstable relationship with its neighbor to the north, one of the world’s most closed and volatile regimes in North Korea.

The troubled economy of North Korea (DPRK) may be the first casualty of further escalation. Despite plenty of wartime bluster coming out of Pyongyang about the so-called "puppet government" of the South, DPRK actually relies on its neighbor for a huge source of income.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak warned that a failure by G20 economies to find a solution soon to disputes about foreign exchange policy could cause significant problems for...