XINHUA/AFP

Driving a golf cart around Camp David and enjoying a dinner of Texas black Angus beef tenderloin in the company of U.S. President George W. Bush, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak surely got a taste of American culture on his first official visit to the United States since he took office in late February.

Apart from usual diplomatic activities, Lee began his five-day visit on April 15 by holding talks with top U.S. government officials and congressional leaders, visiting the New York Stock Exchange and meeting with leaders from the U.S. business and financial sectors. He wrapped up his visit with a highlighted summit meeting with Bush on April 18-19 at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.

Lee deliberately made the United States his first overseas trip as South Korean president to repair the strain that the two countries' relationship has undergone in the past years. Bush also showed his willingness to strengthen ties with Lee by making this pro-America conservative the first South Korean president to be invited to Camp David. They held much anticipated talks on the North Korean nuclear issue and the free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and South Korea.

"This is an important visit to strengthen the relationship between our two countries and I believe we have done so," Bush said at a joint press conference after the meeting.

International affairs experts said the visit resulted in strong signs that U.S.-South Korean relations would improve under Lee. But whether the efforts would continue after a new U.S. president takes office next year remains to be seen, they said.

One Chinese foreign affairs expert said he considers Lee's American tour as a signal of a policy adjustment in South Korea's relationship with the United States.

"Lee's visit showed that he will focus more on relations with Japan and the United States, which is quite different from his predecessor," said Shen Shishun, Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Division for Asian-Pacific Studies at the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). He recalled that former president Roh Moo Hyun's stance was more neutral and balanced, which improved South Korea's overall position in the world rather than focusing on one or two specific countries.

The meeting "indicates that the current U.S. President has a more positive view of President Lee than the previous two South Korean presidents, with whom Bush had many differences, especially over North Korea," said Charles Armstrong, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University.

Evans J. R. Revere, a career diplomat who is now president and CEO of the New York-based Korea Society, said four accomplishments made during Lee's visit indicate that the bilateral relationship is getting better. Among these were the establishment of a good rapport between Lee and Bush, a deal to reopen South Korea to U.S. beef imports, the two leaders' similar stance on the North Korean nuclear issue and an agreement to move ahead with visa-free travel procedures for South Korean citizens who want to go to the United States.

Beyond beef

Bush and Lee's agreement to allow U.S. beef back into South Korea had larger implications for the two countries' FTA. A day before their meeting, South Korea's Assistant Agriculture Minister Min Dong Seok announced that the countries reached a deal on the gradual expansion of U.S. beef imports. It was taken by U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab as one that represented the reopening of the South Korean market "to all U.S. beef and beef products from cattle of all ages," according to a statement released by her office. The statement also said that the arrangement would remove a "major obstacle" to the consideration of the U.S.-South Korean free-trade deal and that the administration would "now work in earnest with Congress and the U.S. agriculture, manufacturing, and services sectors to pass the FTA."

South Korea banned U.S. beef imports in 2003 because of an outbreak of mad-cow disease that had affected the supply in the United States. Before that, South Korea was the third largest importer of U.S. beef and America's seventh largest trade partner. Last year, South Korea used the beef ban as a bargaining chip when the two countries negotiated their FTA. The deal, signed last April, was said to be the United States' first FTA with a major Asian economy and its largest trade deal since the North American FTA took effect in early 1994.

The U.S.-South Korea FTA was expected to boost bilateral trade from $75 billion to $90 billion annually. But it has failed to gain the support of many U.S. lawmakers who have been concerned about American job losses under such a deal. Until now, South Korea's ban on U.S. beef imports has been one of the stumbling blocks in the FTA's passage.

"Now the South Korean Government's announcement of reopening the market set the stage of the a possible early ratification for FTA," Revere said, adding that members of Congress and U.S. government officials would be more inclined to pass it. But he also pointed out that the FTA still has a difficult path ahead because of politics in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election. Both Democratic candidates have expressed their opposition to all FTAs that are currently pending, while the presumed Republican candidate supports them. This poses "a complication for the ratification process," Revere said.

While South Korea has quickened the pace of setting up an FTA with the United States, it has been slowing down its discussions with other Northeast Asian countries about establishing an East Asian FTA. Shen said this move would delay the formation of a troika of world economic communities, namely the EU economic community, North America economic community and the East Asia economic community. He added that a regional FTA would be more beneficial for South Korea.

Denuclearization issue

On the issue of North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Lee said at the joint press conference that the two countries "agreed to work together closely within the six-party talks so that North Korea can fully and completely give up all its nuclear programs as soon as possible." Bush insisted that North Korea "provide a full declaration of its nuclear programs and proliferation activities in a verifiable way."

Both presidents are "clearly on a very similar page when it comes to dealing with the six-party talks and to dealing with the shared concerns of the international community about North Korea's nuclear program," Revere said. They also have agreed that a key way to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue in the coming months is through diplomacy afforded by the six-party talks, he said.

The nuclear talks have stalled since North Korea failed to meet the December 31, 2007, deadline to disable its Yongbyon nuclear complex and fully declare its nuclear programs. Lee has reportedly adopted a harder stance toward North Korea than his two liberal predecessors, Kim Dae Jung and Roh, and this appears to have added to the complexity of North Korea's denuclearization process. Nicknamed the "Bulldozer" for his determination to get things done, Lee has taken a tough attitude toward North Korea by linking the denuclearization with South Korea's economic projects in North Korea. Pyongyang reacted fiercely earlier this year by expelling South Korean officials from its territory, testing short-range missiles and threatening to cut off dialogues. Shen from the CIIS noted that the North Koreans consider Lee a "betrayer."

But Lee also has made it clear that he is prepared to continue talks between South Korea and North Korea, boost North Koreans' income levels, meet with North Korean leaders and continue the whole range of exchange and cooperation, Revere said.

Stronger alliance

Evidence of a stronger alliance boosted by Lee's visit to the United States also could be seen in the signing of a memorandum of understanding for South Korea to take part in the U.S. visa-waiver program, which would be implemented by the end of this year.

Revere said the agreement would also improve the image of the United States among Koreans by allowing them to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without having to apply for a visa.

During their meeting, Bush and Lee also agreed to maintain the current U.S. troop level on the Korean Peninsula, and Bush showed strong support for Lee's request to "upgrade South Korea's foreign military sales status with the United States and to have the same access to U.S. military technologies as NATO and other key allies."

While these developments point to growing harmony between the two countries, it could be a different story when a new U.S. president takes over early next year, some experts said.

"It seems a little strange that the South Korean president has put such emphasis on reviving ties with a U.S. administration that is almost over," Armstrong said. While it is possible that U.S.-South Korea relations could diverge again under the next American president, they may go in a direction opposite from the way they went during the Roh-Bush years, he said. Whereas South Korea previously had been more in favor of engagement with North Korea and the United States more interested in free trade, now South Korea is more hard-line and the United States more resistant to free trade, he said.

(Reporting from New York and with additional reporting by Ding Ying in Beijing)