SEATTLE, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Seattle on Thursday on his way home from New York, where he attended this year's session of the U.N. General Assembly and a high-level meeting on nuclear safety.

Later Thursday, Lee was to hold talks with Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire about ways to bolster trade and other cooperation between the two sides and meet with South Korean residents here.

On Friday morning, Lee is scheduled to meet with Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Officials said that Lee has a personal relationship with Gates. Lee has said that it was because of Gates' recommendation that he did volunteer work during his trip to Africa in July.

The Bill Gates Foundation is also a big contributor to the Seoul-based International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organization devoted exclusively to vaccine research and development for poor populations of developing countries.