SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's hosting of a G-20 economic summit in November will mark something of a turning point in the country's diplomacy traditionally focused on resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis and managing relations with four major regional powers, officials and experts said.
It will also provide a further boost to a "Global Korea" campaign by the Lee Myung-bak administration to enhance the nation's stature on the global stage, they said.
The two-day summit from Nov. 11 in Seoul will be one of the largest international events to be held in South Korea and the first G-20 session to by hosted by a non-G-8 member country.
"With about 100 days to go before the G-20 summit, preparations are in full swing in two main fields -- preparing for the event itself and coordinating the agenda with other members," Kim Yoon-kyung, spokesman at the Presidential Committee for the G-20 Summit, said.
Last month, the committee opened the official Web site, www.seoulsummit.kr, and unveiled the slogan "Shared Growth Beyond Crisis" for the summit.
Kim said his committee is also concentrating its efforts on raising people's awareness of the significance of hosting the world's new premier forum for international economic cooperation and drumming up public support.
"The scene of a South Korean president chairing a meeting of leaders from the world's powers in our country will greatly boost national pride and enhance its international stature," Kim said.
South Korea, the world's 15th largest economy, has set an ambitious goal of taking the center of the international community.
The hosting of the G-20 meeting is a highlight of the efforts, and it is expected to provide South Korea with a chance to broaden its diplomatic base, experts say.
"South Korea's diplomacy has traditionally placed too much emphasis on the North Korean nuclear issue and relations with four regional powers -- the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, thus neglecting economic and multilateral diplomacy," said Lee Dong-hwi, a senior researcher at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Security in Seoul.
The G-20 is a solution to such limitations, and South Korea's role in the G-20 is a test for its Global Korea campaign, he added.
"For South Korea, however, the upcoming summit is a high-risk and high-return event," Lee said.
He pointed out that some 80 percent of major agenda items from the previous G-20 session in Toronto in June has been passed to the Seoul meeting for full-fledged discussions.
As the leaders of the 20 largest industrial and emerging economies struggled to handle the euro-zone sovereign debt trouble, key issues such as bank taxes, readjustments of IMF quotas and so-called exit strategies were sidelined.
The leaders demonstrated unprecedented unity in early sessions of the G-20 created to cope with the 2008-09 global financial crisis. As the world's economy shows signs of recovery, their cooperation has waned. They have voiced the need to adjust the pace of implementing related measures, depending on specific situations in member countries.
In a bid to maintain momentum for global unity, South Korea has proposed two fresh agenda items -- development of poor nations and global financial safety nets aimed at minimizing the impact on emerging countries from sudden capital flows.
Taking lessons from its own experience, South Korea wants to teach impoverished nations "how to catch fish" rather than give away fish.
South Korea is a country that has changed its status from recipient of international aid to donor. It joined the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a club of two dozen benefactors.
"The three major tasks in the Seoul summit will be to review the implementation of agreements at the four previous sessions, start discussions on the new agenda items and lay a solid footing for the institutionalization of the G-20," the researcher said. "After all, the Seoul session will be a watershed for the future of the G-20."
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