South Korean President to visit US in May

South Korean President Park Geun-hye will visit the United States on her first overseas trip as president, and the two countries are working on details to set up the trip for early May, the presidential spokesman said Tuesday. Presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung said during a regular press briefing that Park “plans to visit the United States at the invitation of President Barack Obama, and South Korea and the US are conducting discussions with an early May visit in mind,” according to South Korea’s (Yonhap) News Agency. “The US visit will be the first overseas trip since President Park Geun-hye took office, and this (decision) was made after taking the recent Korean Peninsula situation and the importance of the Korea-US alliance that is marking its 60th anniversary into account,” Yoon said. The order of first presidential trips is considered important, as the first destination could symbolize the importance South Korea puts on the chosen country. Previous presidents have all selected the US, South Korea’s No. 1 ally, as the destination for their first overseas trips.