Probably not too many people would have thought after the Korean War that Korea would one day be hosting a summit of the world’s 20 most important nations:

South Korea will host a G-20 economic summit next year, when it will also take the chairmanship of the forum, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Friday in a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“First, let me inform our citizens that it was decided to hold the 2010 G-20 summit in Korea in November,” the South Korean president said at the press conference, adding the decision passed unanimously.

The November meeting will be the fifth for the forum, launched late last year in the face of an unfolding global economic crisis. Canada will host the fourth G-20 meeting in June on the sidelines of the G-8 summit there, the leaders said.

“As the summit joint communique says itself, next year, the G-20 summit will be the premier economic summit,” Harper said of a joint statement expected to be issued at the end of the G-20 conference here later Friday.

The June meeting will be co-hosted and co-chaired by South Korea, he said, and the South Korean president agreed to actively cooperate.  [Yonhap]