Arroyo flying to Seoul today

Fresh from a successful state visit to the United States, President Arroyo leaves at noon today with a 41-member official delegation for a three-day state visit to South Korea.

At least three bilateral agreements, covering the areas of legal coordination, energy and finance, are expected to be signed during the state visit, the first by any head of state during the administration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

Mrs. Arroyo is also expected to meet with representatives of the Korea Electric Power Corp. and Daewoo International as well as witness the signing of two agreements, including one for the electrification of Panay island, the Office of the Press Secretary said in its website.

Although the Palace did not provide further details of the agreements, the Arroyo administration hopes the pacts will further enhance bilateral ties between Seoul and Manila, dating back to March 3, 1949.

The President is also expected to meet with Korean legislators to persuade them to pass a proposed measure allowing undocumented foreign workers to reside legally in South Korea.

The meeting with the South Korean legislators is expected to legalize the stay of some 17,000 undocumented Filipinos who are scheduled to be repatriated later this year.

"Most of the overstaying Filipino workers in South Korea have voluntarily registered for the alien amnesty program, which allows them to stay there until March 2004," said a recruitment industry source who asked for anonymity.

Labor Attaché to Seoul Reydeluz Conferido said the Ministry of Justice of South Korea is keen on revising its immigration law to allow foreigners with technical jobs to reside legally in South Korea.

In a report to the Department of Labor and Employment, Conferido said Seoul is likely to come out within the year or prior to the scheduled repatriation of the estimated 17,000 undocumented Filipinos in that country.

Itinerary

Mrs. Arroyo, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and the rest of the official delegation are expected to arrive in Seoul this afternoon, after which she is set to meet the Filipino community in the evening.

Tomorrow, after a wreath-laying at the National Cemetery, Roh and South Korean First Lady Kwon Yang-sook will officially welcome Mrs. Arroyo with state honors at the Blue House, the South Korean presidential residence.

After meeting with Roh, the President will lead the expanded bilateral meeting and signing of government agreements.

A luncheon to be hosted by the four Korean business associations — the Federation of Korean Industries, Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Korea International Trade Association, and Federation of Small and Medium Business — will follow at the Seoul Hilton hotel.

She then meets with the leaders of the National Assembly and, in the afternoon will attend to business calls by representatives of the Korea Electric Power Corp. and Daewoo International.

The President, along with 40 members of the Philippine delegation, will then be honored with a state dinner at the Blue House where they will also be treated to a Korean cultural performance.

On Wednesday, the President starts her day with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Korean War Memorial Monument, a tribute to the Philippine Expeditionary Forces sent to Korea in 1950.

She will then speak at the 19th joint meeting of the Korea-Philippines Economic Council and the Philippines-Korea Economic Council before meeting with Sam Koo-park, chairman of Asiana Airlines.

A luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Goh Kun and a press conference for RP-Korea media will then follow before the President is given a send-off at the Seoul Airbase on the way to Tokyo for another three-day working visit to Japan.

North Korea tops agenda

Mrs. Arroyo had earlier said that her visit to South Korea and Japan will give her the opportunity to discuss with the leaders of both countries the issue of North Korea, which is a threat to the security of the region.

In a roundtable interview Thursday with Japanese journalists at Malacañang, the President said that South Korea and Japan are the two countries that are "most directly interested" in finding a solution to the North Korean issue.

"I would certainly want to work with them and for us to come together for a common policy approach to the North Korean issue," the President said.

In Tokyo, the President will hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and with the top executives of Japanese business conglomerates.

The President said that North Korea is a very important issue to the Philippines and other countries in the region.

"We realize that the prospect of the global instability spreading to North Korea offers a challenge to the region together with the continuing threat of terrorism," the President said.

This will be the President’s fourth visit to Japan since she assumed the presidency. Her first was a working visit to Tokyo that unfortunately coincided with the infamous Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. — Jose Rodel Clapano, Mayen Jaymalin