HAMBURG, Germany -- President Moon Jae-in left Hamburg on Sunday afternoon after a five-day visit which included the Group of 20 summit and a number of individual summit-level talks. He is expected to land in Seoul Air Base, located south of Seoul, early Monday morning.

This year’s G-20 summit, titled “Shaping an Interconnected World,” on Saturday wrapped up its two-day discussion on global economic growth, international trade and financial market regulation.

The event was the second overseas trip for President Moon, who took office in May and recently returned from his visit to Washington for a bilateral summit with US counterpart Donald Trump.


During and ahead of the G-20 summit period, the South Korean president sat in a total of 13 individual meetings with summit-level counterparts and chiefs of international organizations.

On the sidelines of the main theme, Moon also called for the international community to pay attention to North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations, seeking to promote peace on the divided Korean Peninsula.

Since kicking off in 2008, the G-20 summit has traditionally focused on issues which hold global significance in the economic realm. Other issues ranging from climate change, development policy, labor market and counter-terrorism are also considered part of the broad agenda.

The occasion is considered a central forum for global economic discussion as the G-20 member states together account for more than four-fifths of the gross world product and three-quarters of global trade. They also account for almost two-thirds of the globe’s population.

State leaders also tap into the opportunity to voice out their opinion on key matters of interest -- such as the North Korean problem in President Moon‘s case.

By Bae Hyun-jung, Korea Herald correspondent (tellme@heraldcorp.com)