President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama reconfirmed the aim of the 2009 Joint Vision for the Alliance of South Korea and the U.S. during their summit in Washington Thursday, local time.

In a joint news conference held at the White House after the summit, the two leaders said they had agreed to develop their countries' alliance to a pluralistic strategic alliance.

The two leaders also shared the view that due to recent mounting jitters over the global economy, efforts to stabilize foreign exchange rates are currently required as was the case during the 2008 global financial crisis.

Lee and Obama agreed that their countries' financial authorities will seek substantial ways, including currency swaps, to jointly address global financial turmoil, if deemed necessary.

The two leaders also agreed that the approval of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement in Congress will upgrade their nations' relations by expanding the scope of their alliance to include economic areas.

Lee and Obama agreed on the need to boost readiness and the ability to effectively and immediately respond to North Korea’s threats as they shared the view that the North’s asymmetrical threats are sharply rising amid the North’s nuclear and missile development efforts.

Lee expressed gratitude to Obama for inviting him to the U.S. and extended an invitation to the U.S. president to visit South Korea next March when Seoul will host a nuclear security summit. Obama accepted Lee’s invitation.