President Chen Shui-bian met with former Republic of Korea President Kim Young Sam on Monday, November 1, 2005. It was Kim's third visit to Taiwan. Chen greeted Kim with cordiality and gratefulness on behalf of Taiwan government and people.
Chen said that if he were allowed to personally attend the informal APEC summit of top-level economic leaders on November 18 and 19, he would be able to meet with former president Kim in Seoul, rather than having him to take the trouble to come to Taiwan. Regretfully, even though his chosen appointee Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng has been denied the opportunity to join the informal summit of economic leaders in Busan, he still wished this year's APEC a complete success. Chen stressed that Taiwan will not be absent from this year's informal APEC summit of economic leaders and that Taiwan intends to cooperate fully with the Korean organizers of the event and will act in a courteous manner.
The president pointed out that the Taiwan-Korea relationship is very close and that last year's bilateral trade had reached US$16.9 billion. He said that Korea had a US$6.9 billion trade surplus with Taiwan last year - the highest ever on record, noting that the new relations have not only led to the re-establishment of direct air transportation routes, but also the trade offices in each other's capitals.
Chen said that due to progress in the fourth round of the six-nation talks on the stability of the Korean Peninsula, he looks forward to a greater success in the fifth round of talks. He hoped that Taiwan and Korea would actively pursue a free trade agreement, that would facilitate the two nations to work together to devise mutually beneficial arrangements.