Chosun Ilbo, January 15, 2006
President Roh Moo-hyun missed a gala dinner after the ASEAN + 3 summit on Sunday night. The president is in Cebu, the Philippines, for a summit of the 10 Southeast Asian countries and three Northeast Asian nations. Hosted by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the dinner at the Shangri-la Hotel was attended by 15 heads of government including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Presidential spokesman Yoon Seung-yong said President Roh did not attend the dinners due to severe fatigue from his tight schedule and took a rest with the understanding of the host. This is the first time Roh missed an official event abroad due to fatigue. The president did attend a summit between Korea and ASEAN, a bilateral summit with China, a three-way summit with China and Japan and the ASEAN+3 summit as scheduled on Sunday. A presidential aide said Roh will also attend the East Asia Summit on Monday as planned. Roh earlier curtailed his schedule for the ASEAN+3 summit by one day.
Meanwhile, at the tripartite meeting on the sidelines of the the summit, Roh agreed with Wen and Abe to set up a high-level diplomatic consultative body to discuss common global and regional issues. They also decided to kick off official negotiations for a mutual investment treaty among the three countries. Roh and Wen discussed ways to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. Cheong Wa Dae said the two heads of state did not touch on opening a direct air route between Korea’s Gimpo International Airport and Shanghai, which was discussed among working officials.
This might be the first and last time you hear of a Korean missing work because he is tired!!!! The guys I work with need to be on their deathbed before they miss a company obligation. All my Korean colleagues are pretty disappointed at his behavior.
Posted by: LivingnKorea | January 17, 2007 at 06:10 PM