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U.S. President Donald Trump is set to arrive here next week on a visit that is widely expected to highlight the strength and importance of the alliance with South Korea, an official from the South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.
The U.S. leader will begin his two-day visit to South Korea on Tuesday with a trip to the newly renovated U.S. military base, Camp Humphreys, in Pyeongtaek, 40 kilometers south of Seoul, according to Nam Gwan-pyo, deputy director from the presidential National Security Office.
There, Trump will host a lunch for South Korean and U.S. armed service members. He will then receive a joint briefing of the joint forces on current conditions surrounding the Korean Peninsula.
His meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in will be held at Cheong Wa Dae later in the day.
The meeting, the fifth of its kind since the two leaders took office, will consist of a bilateral summit and an expanded meeting, involving key government officials from both countries, according to Nam. Their previous encounters included two three-way talks involving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Moon and Trump will hold a joint press event following their summit.
The South Korean president will later host a state dinner, involving dozens of government officials and other leaders from the two countries.
Trump will be the first U.S. leader to make a state visit to South Korea in 25 years.
On the second and last day of his visit, the U.S. president will visit the South Korean parliament to offer a special speech, also becoming the first U.S. president to do so in over two decades.
"A speech at the National Assembly by a U.S. president, who is making a state visit to South Korea for the first time in 25 years, can be considered very significant in itself. In addition to the head of an ally that shares common values of freedom and democracy directly speaking to our people at our National Assembly, it will mark the only opportunity for President Trump to offer the United States' views and policy vision for the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," Nam told reporters.
The U.S. president will leave Wednesday for China, the fourth destination on his two-week Asia trip that includes stops in Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Moon and Trump will rejoin in Da Nang, Vietnam later in the week when they will both attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. They will meet again in Manila, where they will take part in the East Asia Summit and Association of Southeast Asian Nations forums. (Yonhap)
