President Park leaves for Canada for state visit

South Korean President Park Geun-hye left for Canada Saturday for a three-day state visit on a trip that will also take her to New York where she will address the U.N. General Assembly.

   In Ottawa, Park is scheduled to meet with South Korean residents there before meeting separately with Gov. General David Johnston and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, according to Park's office.   

The summit with Harper on Monday will be Park's third with him. In March, Harper visited Seoul as the two countries announced the conclusion of a free trade deal after nearly nine years of tough negotiations.

Canada is the world's 11th-largest economy and one of the Group of Eight nations. But trade between Seoul and Ottawa has been relatively small, with Canada being only the 25th-largest trade partner for South Korea. Two-way trade amounted to nearly $10 billion in 2013.

   On Monday, Park will fly to New York where she will attend a banquet to be hosted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, Park's office said.

   On Tuesday, Park plans to attend the U.N. climate summit meant to galvanize action on cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases that scientists blame for global warming. 

She is expected to announce Seoul's plan to bridge differences between advanced and developing countries in combating climate change, according to her office.   

Park also plans to address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday with a call for peace on the divided Korean peninsula and in the region.

   Tensions persist on the divided Korean Peninsula over the North's missile and nuclear programs as well as its military threats against South Korea in recent months.

   In addition, Park plans to attend the U.N. Security Council summit on Wednesday to discuss the issue of foreign fighters who have joined the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

   Earlier this week, South Korea's national security adviser Kim Kwan-jin outlined Seoul's plan to provide humanitarian support in the fight against the jihadist group during his meeting with his U.S. counterpart in Washington.

   Park's planned U.N. speech also comes amid no signs of progress in ending a diplomatic impasse between South Korea and Japan over historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

   Territorial disputes and history issues have also frayed ties between China and Japan. Japan controlled much of China during World War II.

   It remains unclear whether Park could meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.   

On Friday, Abe sent a personal letter to Park, expressing hope that the two will meet in the coming months, in an apparent attempt to repair soured relations.

   Park agreed to make joint efforts with Tokyo to set up a long-overdue summit with Abe, according to former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who met her to convey Abe's letter.

   Mori was in South Korea to attend Friday's opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Incheon, a port city of west of Seoul.

   Mori quoted Park as saying, "You are right," when he told her to make efforts with Japan to ensure the top leaders of the two neighboring countries can smile each other as soon as possible. (Yonhap)