President Lee Myung-bak is expected to hold bilateral talks with up to 25 leaders on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit slated to take place in Seoul from March 26-27.

“President Lee is expected to have talks with leaders from 20 or up to 25 countries during a week-long period around the Nuclear Security Summit,” Han Choong-hee, spokesperson for the summit’s preparatory body, told reporters.

The premier forum on nuclear security, safety and safeguards is to be attended by the leaders of 53 countries and four international organizations such as the United Nations.

Except for the 10 countries which will be represented by their prime ministers or other high-level officials, a total of 48 heads of state are expected to join the largest global forum ever to take place in Seoul.

For the summit, the Seoul government anticipates leaders of the four major powers ― U.S. President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao ― will attend.

Apart from joint efforts to tackle threats of global nuclear terrorism, Lee is expected to touch on a wide range of bilateral issues regarding politics, the economy and other social issues during his talks with his counterparts, officials said.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)