President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak hailed a long-sought trade deal as an engine for job creation in both countries as their White House summit got under way today.
Hosting Mr Lee on a formal state visit, Mr Obama sought to underscore what is widely seen as a high point in the longtime alliance between Washington and Seoul as well as his ever-closer personal bond with the South Korean leader.
The top item on the agenda was the consummation of a US-Korea trade pact, which is expected to help anchor the United States in the economically dynamic Asia-Pacific region as it competes with an increasingly assertive China.
The two leaders were also expected to coordinate strategy on the North Korean nuclear standoff.
The US Congress ratified the trade deal just hours after Mr Lee arrived yesterday. It was the largest of three pending bilateral agreements, the other two with Colombia and Panama, and all passed in rapid succession.
"America is leading once more in the Asia-Pacific," Mr Obama said, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Lee at a welcoming ceremony. "With our landmark trade agreement we will bring our nations even closer, creating new jobs for both our people, and preserving our edge as two of the most dynamic economies in the world."
Calling it a "win" for both countries, Mr Lee - who must still secure endorsement of the pact by South Korea's parliament - said it would become "a new engine of growth that will propel our economies forward".
Mr Obama has touted the accords as a way to boost US exports and create tens of thousands of jobs at home at a time when his 2012 re-election chances likely hinge on whether he can reduce an unemployment rate stuck above 9 per cent.
But critics, including some US labour leaders, say the pacts will actually hurt US employment.
The deal between the United States and South Korea, the world's largest and 14th largest economies, would be the biggest US trade pact since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect nearly 18 years ago.
Mr Obama sent the three pacts to Capitol Hill just 10 days ago, four to five years after they were first negotiated under his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Mr Lee - greeted by an honour guard under rainy skies on the White House south lawn - has proved a reliable partner for Mr Obama, lining up with US policy on North Korea, Afghanistan and the G-20 summit aimed at stabilizing the world economy.
But South Korea had chafed over US delays getting the trade deal passed. It was signed under Bush in 2007 but until now remained stalled under Mr Obama, partly due to renegotiation of provisions to get a better deal for US car makers.
Despite that, Mr Lee - whose mandatory single term ends in early 2013 -- has managed to build personal chemistry with a U.S. president known for a mostly detached diplomatic style.
Mr Lee was feted on a rare state visit to Washington. He was to hold a joint news conference with Mr Obama today, then address Congress and attend a White House dinner.
Mr Obama will then take him tomorrow for a road trip to Detroit, home of the US motor industry.
In talks today, the two were also expected to try to keep a united front on North Korea's disputed nuclear programme.
It is a stark reminder that Iran is not the only nuclear standoff that has continued to dog the Obama administration. Relations with Tehran are under new strain over US accusations this week that Iranian officials backed an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.
Obama and Lee are likely to consider whether efforts to re-engage with Pyongyang are worth pursuing further.
Alluding to North Korea, Lee pledged that "our two countries will ensure peace and stability of the peninsula and beyond."
Seoul's relations with the isolated North soured after Mr Lee took office in 2008 with a pledge to link aid to progress in the US-led efforts to end the North's nuclear programmes.
Ties between the two Koreas further deteriorated after the North's deadly attacks on the South last year - the sinking of a South Korean warship and the shelling of an island.
The provocations by the North, which walked away from six-country nuclear talks and conducted its second nuclear test in 2009, helped bring Washington and Seoul closer together.
Recent conciliatory gestures by both Koreas have raised hopes for an opening to restart nuclear negotiations, but Seoul and Washington insist Pyongyang must first take concrete measures to disable its atomic facilities.
Reuters