President Roh Moo-hyun is set to hold summit talks with his Argentine counterpart, Néstor Kirchner on Monday.

Launching joint studies for the possible adoption of a bilateral free trade agreement with Argentina and the South American Common Market, Mercosur, is expected to top the agenda at the two leaders' talks.

Roh and Kirchner are also expected to discuss regularizing talks between trade ministers of the two countries as part of efforts to promote bilateral trade.

The two heads of state will also seek cooperation in the fields of information and technology and science and energy. Roh is further expected to call on the South American nation to ease trade restrictions on South Korean goods.

Argentina is the third largest South American market and ranks sixth in the world in terms of mineral resources.

Upon arriving in Buenos Aires late Sunday from Los Angeles, Roh stressed in a meeting with local Korean residents that the Korean Peninsula is not a region of conflict. By way of example, he cited Seoul's work to help the communist North implement a market-based economy, adding that Pyongyang is also exerting efforts to open up its closed doors to the world.