President Lee Myung-bak met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the presidential office on Sunday morning, where they discussed ratification of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) and collaboration on North Korea-related policies.

Lee called for bilateral efforts to ratify the agreement at an early date, saying that more than three years of delay in its ratification is preventing citizens from both nations from enjoying enormous economic and security benefits that the deal would bring.

In response, Clinton reaffirmed U.S. president Barack Obama's strong commitment to the agreement and promised to make best efforts to ratify the deal at an early date.

Meanwhile, Lee also said that the South Korea-U.S. strategic alliance is developing one step further through cooperation in resolving regional and global issues and in North Korea policies.

Clinton reportedly said that the two countries are maintaining a stronger alliance on North Korean issues than at any other time and will continue to cooperate closely in these areas.

Both agreed to work together to help Japan recover from the devastating earthquake and tsunami, and also to exchange information on the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.