A sweeping popular uprising toppled the decades-old authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt last month.

   The Egyptian military took over power for a smooth transition to democracy through popular elections toward the end of the year amid concerns that the military might try to hold on to power thereafter.

   Similar uprisings have ousted the iron-fisted regime in Tunisia, turned Libya into a civil war zone and brought chaos to several other Middle Eastern countries in recent weeks.

   South Korea underwent civil uprisings in the late 1980s that brought to an end the country's decades-old authoritarian rule.

   Obama and other U.S. officials have often cited South Korea as an example of rags-to-riches progress, noting the role of the U.S. in helping the war-ravaged South Korean people achieve economic growth and democracy.

   While in Seoul for the G-20 economic summit in November, Obama had "the opportunity to pay tribute to the extraordinary progress that the Republic of Korea has made in the 60 years since the beginning of the Korean War," Ben Rhode, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said at the time.

   "It's one of the quite astonishing stories of the second half of the 20th century, the economic development of Korea and the development of its democracy, which of course is tied very closely to the strength of our alliance with them," Rhode said.

   South Korea is the first non-G-7 member advanced economy to host the G-20 economic summit since the outbreak of the economic crisis triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis on Wall Street in late 2008.

   Obama has periodically lauded South Korea for its wider access to high-speed broadband Internet, advanced battery technology and education.

   Robert Shapiro, chairman of the Council for European Investment Security, praised South Korea's educational system at a forum here Tuesday.

   "One of the most innovative economies in the world, and probably the greatest single success story of the last 50 years is Korea," Shapiro said. "Korea has maintained investments in education equivalent to 10 percent of GDP for the last 50 years, even when she was one of the poorest nations in the world."

(Yonhap News)