President Lee Myung-bak says bilateral cooperation between South Korea and U.S. will surmount every obstacle the 21st Century poses.

Lee's remark came during his address at the White House state dinner Thursday evening, local time, where he also thanks members of the U.S. Congress who helped to ratify the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.

U.S. President Barack Obama in his address at the diner said the key to the South Korea-U.S. alliance is, when spoken in Korean,“jeong,” meaning a positive sentiment that deepens with time. Obama then proposed a toast for the bilateral alliance.

Among the 220-plus guests were U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his wife, U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, President of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Bob King, and Korean-American actor John Cho.

On Friday morning, local time, Lee will hold a breakfast meeting with key U.S. policy opinion leaders. He will then travel to Detroit, the center of the U.S. auto industry.