Lee raised the case of Shin Suk-ja and her two daughters during summit talks, stressing that the issue of human rights and freedom is as important as the international standoff over North Korea's nuclear programs, presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha said. The North last month announced Shin had died and said her daughters wanted nothing to do with their father.
"I hope they will be able to return (home) if the world pays greater attention," Lee said, in his first public comments on the case.
In response, King Gustaf queried Swedish Deputy Foreign Minister Frank Belfrage, who was present at the meeting, about the case, and the deputy minister said Sweden has been closely monitoring the situation and will "cooperate actively" with South Korea, according to Park.
Shin and her daughters have reportedly been held since 1987, a year after her husband, Oh Kil-nam, fled the North, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said at its session on May 2, according to a Seoul-based rights advocacy group.
Oh claims his family was lured to the North in 1985 via West Germany where he was studying.
In April, a senior North Korean diplomat told the U.N. group that Shin had died of hepatitis and the two daughters do not regard Oh as their father since "he abandoned his family and drove their mother to death."
In Brussels on Tuesday, Seoul's top envoy to the European Union, Ambassador Kim Chang-beom, pressed North Korea to immediately free the three as he attended a session of the European Parliament Subcommittee on North Korea's human rights record.
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King Gustaf and Queen Silvia arrived Tuesday for a four-day visit that also includes tours to the truce village of Panmunjom on the border with North Korea and to the World Expo under way in the southern port city of Yeosu.
The king visited South Korea five times before, but this week's trip was his first state visit.
In Wednesday's meeting, Lee expressed his appreciation for Sweden's role in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, such as its dispatch of medical teams during the 1950-53 Korean War and its participation in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission overseeing the armistice that ended the conflict.
Sweden was also a member of an international team that investigated the mysterious sinking of a South Korean warship in waters near the tense sea border with North Korea in 2010. The investigation concluded that the North torpedoed the warship Cheonan.
King Gustaf noted that South Korea has achieved rapid economic growth and has made contributions to the security and prosperity of the international community, such as hosting a G20 summit in 2010 and this year's Nuclear Security Summit.
He also wished South Korea a successful hosting of the Yeosu Expo, the office said.
The two leaders said trade and investments between the two countries have steadily expanded and cooperation between science research institutions of the two sides has been brisk. They agreed to further boost cooperation in basic science and green growth, the office said.
Trade volume between South Korea and Sweden has increased from US$1.64 billion in 2009 to $2.05 billion in 2010 and to $3.19 billion last year. The two countries forged diplomatic relations in 1959.
jschang@yna.co.kr
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