From news reports


President Park Geun-hye and her Peruvian counterpart Ollanta Humala held summit talks on Monday in Lima and discussed ways to foster bilateral relations in health and welfare, electric power industry, science technology and others.

At the summit held at the presidential palace in Peru’s capital, the two oversaw the signing of a number of memorandums of understanding including that of cooperation in creative economy, customs and e-governance.

South Korean officials said the summit paved the way to reinforce the trade and investment cooperation as well as diversify the two nation’s high value-added exchanges in defense, security and infrastructure.

Peru is the second stop on Park’s four-nation trip to South America, which is designed to boost economic ties with the region. Park’s trip will also take her to Chile and Brazil, where bilateral economic and trade cooperation is expected to be high on her agenda.

At the summit, the two leaders also reportedly discussed in depth Korea’s push to export its light attack FA-50 fighter jets.

Under a 2012 deal, the sole Korean aircraft manufacturer is helping Peru assemble 16 turbo-prop planes called KT-1P for the Peruvian Air Force. Separately, KAI has already built and delivered four trainers to Peru.

Park’s visit comes as KAI is competing with foreign rivals to win a contract worth about $1 billion for Peru’s next generation light attack aircraft by offering its FA-50 supersonic jets.

The FA-50 is a light attack variant of the T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic trainer that was codeveloped by KAI and U.S. defense firm Lockheed Martin. It is the most advanced variant of the T-50 family operated by the Korean Air Force. The FA-50 has a radar warning receiver and night vision imaging, and is capable of carrying 4,500 kilograms of weapons. It also has a 20 mm cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles.

The two countries are also expected to cooperate in modernizing Peru’s customs and legal administrative systems. While helping Peru establish an e-governance system, Park urged for her counterpart’s attention for wider advances by Korean companies in setting up an integrated public safety network.

On Sunday, Park visited Peru’s oldest state museum Sunday on the first stop of her trip to Peru. The president took a brief tour of the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru. The museum ― once home to revolutionary hero Jose de San Martin ― houses about 300,000 Incan and pre-Incan artifacts.

She also met with about a dozen representatives of Peruvian fan clubs of hallyu, or the Korean wave, a symbolic move that illustrates the growing popularity of Korean pop culture in the South American country.

Korean TV shows, films and pop music have gained immense popularity in Peru and other South American countries in recent years, beyond China and Southeast Asian countries.

Young Peruvians clapped their hands and greeted Park with “annyeonghaseyo,” which is “hello” in Korean, before giving her a stuffed llama doll and a silver brooch.

Park’s office said more than 120 fan clubs are active in Peru and estimated their members were between 30,000 and 50,000.

Later, Park had dinner with about 80 representatives from the Korean community in Peru and asked them to further promote Korean culture in the country.