President Roh Moo-hyun has arrived in Chile to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.

Shortly after his arrival in Santiago early Friday morning, Roh met with South Koreans residing in the South American country and asked for their active contribution to Korean-Chilean trade, which is forecast to grow significantly following the earlier adoption of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).

Later on Monday night, Roh is scheduled to meet with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and seek ways to diversify export items in a bid to further expand bilateral trade. The two leaders are also expected to agree to establish a joint committee to strengthen two-way cooperation in mineral resource sectors.

Roh will attend the APEC forum on Saturday and later meet with U.S. President George W. Bush for summit talks on the sidelines of the economic cooperation meeting.

He is expected to stress that North Korea's nuclear issue must be resolved in a peaceful manner and not through any hard-line or military means.

Ahead of meeting with Bush, Roh is also set to meet separately with Chinese President Hu Jintao.