U.S. President Barack Obama praised South Korea for its economic progress while speaking at a press conference following a recent G8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy.

At the summit's session on food security Friday, the U.S. president used South Korea as an example of a nation whose government has succeeded in creating beneficial economic bonds with domestic industry and civil society.

He recommended that struggling African nations look to South Korea as an example of what a nation can achieve, saying that the current gross domestic production of Kenya is higher than South Korea’s was in the 1950s.

During the session, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak promised to actively participate in a global drive to resolve current food shortage problems, saying that South Korea has, in the past, been a beneficiary of international assistance.