U.S., China, Japan hail Park’s win in election

버락 오바마 미국 대통령이 19일(현지시간) 백악관에서 재정절벽 협상 등과 관련된 기자회견을 열었다. 오바마 대통령은 이날 “한·미관계가 아시아의 핵심이 될 것”이라고 말했다. [워싱턴 신화=연합뉴스]

Countries including the United States, China and Japan sent congratulatory messages to President-elect Park Geun-hye yesterday.

“I look forward to working closely with the Park administration to further enhance our extensive cooperation with the Republic of Korea on a wide range of important bilateral, regional and global issues,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement released by the White House on Wednesday.

“The U.S.-ROK alliance serves as a lynchpin of peace and security in the Asia Pacific, and our two nations share a global partnership with deep economic, security and people-to-people ties.”

The statement came hours after Park was elected as Korea’s first female president in a tight race.

In the afternoon, Sung Kim, U.S. ambassador to Seoul, met with Park to congratulate her.

“I hope to meet with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton soon and discuss future relations of Korea and the U.S.,” Park told Kim.

China’s leader Xi Jinping delivered a personally written letter to Park through Zhang Xinsen, Chinese ambassador to Seoul.

“The president-elect is a competent politician and a long-time friend of China’s,” Zhang said, delivering the letter to Park. “[Park] knows well the Chinese culture, also the language, and has a deep understanding of Chinese philosophy and thoughts.”

In response, Park said she met with Xi in 2005 and had “fruitful” talks.

Shinzo Abe, head of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, also sent Park a congratulatory message. The LDP won a landslide victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election, and the far-right Abe will become prime minister Wednesday.

“[I hope to] hold close communication with President-elect Park,” Abe said yesterday. “Japan and Korea share various values, and strategic benefits and bilateral ties, including the economies and people-to-people ties, are very strong.”

Abe also said, “Considering the situation Northeast Asia is in right now, [Korea] is a country [Japan] should cooperate closely with to secure regional peace and security.”

In the afternoon yesterday, Park also met with Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koro Bessho and Russian Ambassador Konstantin Vnukov in closed-door meetings.

By Lee Eun-joo [angie@joongang.co.kr]