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President Lee Myung-bak arrives in Beijing on Friday to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics and meet with several foreign leaders there. During his two-day stay, Lee will attend a luncheon to be hosted by Chinese President Hu Jintao for foreign leaders on Friday.
He will also meet for the second time with Hu on Saturday. The two are expected to discuss ways to upgrade the bilateral ties to a "strategic cooperative partnership," which they discussed during their first summit in May, and the Chinese leader's return visit to Seoul in late August.
Lee will hold a series of separate meetings with leaders from resource-rich countries Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Algeria, a presidential official said Thursday. Lee and North Korea's no. 2 leader Kim Yong-nam were expected to be seated together during the luncheon hosted by Hu on Friday, but China has rearranged the seating plan by taking North Korean protests into consideration, according to the presidential office.
Lee will visit the Olympic Athletes' Village and a training center on Saturday to encourage South Korean athletes. He returns home after watching South Korean athletes perform in some events.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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