MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

South Korean president visits Argentina.

South Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun arrived this Sunday in Buenos Aires with a delegation of eighty businessmen and confirmed a 30 million US dollars line of credit to promote bilateral trade

The loan granted by the South Korean Import-Export Bank has a greater impact that the actual sum and signals another step towards the gradual lifting of the financial isolation of Argentina since the massive default of December 2001. Argentina so far has managed with fresh and rescheduled credits from multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, Interamerican Development Bank and the IMF.

Monday November 15 President Roh Moo-Hyun will be meeting with his Argentine counterpart Nestor Kirchner and the rest of the day involved in official acts and trade talks including the closing ceremony of the VII Argentine-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee meeting.

Among the presidential delegation are representatives from some of the most outstanding Korean corporations such as Samsung, LG, Hyundau and Daewo. Bilateral trade had a peak for South Korea in 1998 with exports totalling 646 million US dollars, dropping to 69 million in 2002. Last year Argentina exported 479 million US dollars to South Korea.

The Buenos Aires University is scheduled to honour president Roh Moo-Hyun as an honorary member of the academia for his dedication to democracy and human rights.

Argentine Foreign Affairs Cabinet Chief Eduardo Valdés who received the South Korean president in Ezeiza airport described the visit "as a very important event; Argentina hasn't had a visit of such calibre for some time now".

South Korea has become a highly industrialized country and is a "leading nation in communications and the computer industry, among other fields", underlined Mr. Valdés.