Park arrives in Philippines for APEC summit

President Park Geun-hye arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday for a two-day summit of Asia and Pacific leaders this week.

Park and the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are expected to exchange opinions on how to build inclusive economies and sustainable and resilient communities, said Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office.

The APEC forum is set to bring together top leaders of the organization's 21 member economies, including the United States, Japan and Australia, which together account for nearly 60 percent of global gross domestic product and almost half of world trade.

Park is also set to hold a meeting with APEC Business Advisory Council and as well as an unofficial dialogue with Pacific Alliance, a Latin American trade bloc composed of four countries bordering the Pacific Ocean -- Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Manila is the second stop on Park's 10-day tour that already took her to Turkey for the summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies.

In Turkey, Park called for a careful adjustment of monetary policies of advanced countries amid lingering worries over a potential Fed rate hike.

Last month, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates at near zero due to global headwinds but suggested that it could raise rates by the end of the year.

"The normalization of monetary policies of advanced countries should be adjusted in a careful and gradual manner by taking into account their impact on the world economy," Park said Monday at the G-20 summit in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya.

Separately, Park, U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders condemned recent terror attacks in France and Turkey as they pledged to fight against terrorism.

"We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the heinous terrorist attacks" in Paris and in Ankara, according to the G-20 statement on the fight against terrorism. "They are an unacceptable affront to all humanity."

It is the first time that the leaders of the G-20 countries have issued a separate statement on a political issue since the G-20 came into being. (Yonhap)