Park returns home from European trip

   South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrived home from a weeklong trip to Europe on Saturday, bagging agreements with France, Britain and Belgium to bolster economic cooperation, especially in pursuing new growth engines.

   It was the last overseas trip of Park's first year in office, and rounded off a series of visits to important countries, including the United States, China, Russia and rising Southeast Asian economies Vietnam and Indonesia.

   In France, Park and French President Francois Hollande agreed to strengthen cooperation in high-tech industries to create new growth engines. They also agreed to simplify France's visa issuance process for Korean business people, as well as strengthen cooperation in civilian nuclear power and safety.

   Her summit with British Prime Minister David Cameron produced an agreement to double trade and investment volume between the two countries by 2020, strengthen partnership in nuclear energy projects and work closely together to develop future growth engines.

   While in London, Park also received an elaborate ceremonial welcome at Buckingham Palace.

   In Brussels, Park and Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo agreed to continue to expand bilateral trade and investment. On the sidelines of her visit, major EU firms made investment commitments worth a total of $370 million, including Chemical firm Solvay's plan to build a chemical manufacturing plant in southwestern South Korea.

   Another mission of the trip was to win backing from the leading players in global diplomacy for her regional peace visions – the "Korean Peninsula trust process" and the "Northeast Asia peace and cooperation initiative." All three countries expressed full support for them.

   Park and all of her counterparts were also in full agreement that a nuclear North Korea is unacceptable under any circumstances and that the communist nation must scrap its nuclear program in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner. (Yonhap News)