Lee Ha-won

The Seoul itinerary of U.S. President Barack Obama, who arrives Wednesday evening, is simple. A summit with President Lee Myung-bak and a visit to the U.S. Forces Korea base are pretty much all there is. The last leg of his eight-day Asia tour, his stay in Seoul will barely last 24 hours.

There will be no event like the Ewha Womans University lecture Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave earlier this year, and nothing like the town hall meetings Obama held in Tokyo on Saturday and in Shanghai on Monday.

But that need not be seen as a sign of neglect. Obama feels that a relationship of trust has already been established in meetings with Lee during the G20 conference in London in April and Lee's visit to Washington in June. The "vision" for the Korea-U.S. alliance based on shared beliefs and trust in free democracy and the market economy, announced at the June summit, already strengthened the bilateral relationship.

But it is a pity that Obama, who is so aware of the changing world order, will not have a chance to see more of Korea. He has expressed interest in the country on many occasions, but most of it was from indirect experience.

Hopefully, even his busy itinerary will allow him to see two things in Korea. First, since he thinks the Korean automobile market is closed, let him watch the foreign cars that throng the streets of Seoul, the car parks of hotels, and the European car dealerships scattered around Seoul. Perhaps he will, have a chance to meet some Koreans in person and listen to their views about the foreign cars they want to buy.

American political leaders including Obama still feel that an "invisible hand" is at work in the auto trade imbalance between the two countries. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, in a Chamber of Commerce address on Nov. 5, used the phrase "legacy of Korea's long-closed market," in referring to the issue in the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. If Obama observes the Korean car market, which is quite open to efficient and affordable foreign cars, he may be able to find a breakthrough in getting the FTA ratified.

And if he takes a helicopter at the USFK base in Yongsan, he could be at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone within half an hour. Could he not deliver a historic speech, much as former president Ronald Reagan did in front of the Berlin Wall in 1987?  

Or instead, a meeting with North Korean refugees who have settled down in the South would also be significant. If he met them, he would be able to recall former World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz's suggestion that the "Indochinese model" that accommodated a host of refugees in the 1970s be applied to North Korean refugees.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia, who visited Korea last week, was so charmed by the country that he stayed one more day. Though the American president, who is busier than anyone else, won't be able to do so, perhaps he could let his private airplane stand by for a few more hours to invest as much time as he can afford in Korea-U.S. relations.

By Lee Ha-won, the Chosun Ilbo's correspondent in Washington