South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama held phone talks on Friday and agreed to take cooperative steps to deal with the Northeast Asian security crisis triggered by North Korea's rocket launch.

The two discussed the matter when Obama made a congratulatory call to Park on her recent election as South Korea's president, said an official at Park's ruling Saenuri Party.

Park won the tightly contested presidential election on Wednesday against a liberal opposition candidate, and will become the country's first female president on Feb. 25.

Saenuri Party spokeswoman Cho Yoon-sun said Park and Obama concurred on the need for South Korea and the United States to work together to handle North Korea's provocations and the unfolding security crisis in Northeast Asia.
Both Seoul and Washington view the North's Dec. 12 rocket launch as a disguised test of ballistic missile technology, although Pyongyang has maintained that it has a right to conduct peaceful space development programs.

According to the spokeswoman, Park said the U.S. president stressed the alliance between Seoul and Washington was stronger than ever and that this relationship not only bolstered peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, but the world at large. Cho added that Obama pointed out that 2013 marked the 60th anniversary of the mutual defense treaty between the two countries, and he was pleased at the progress made in such areas as trade and economic cooperation, education, and cultural exchange. The bilateral free trade agreement between the two countries went into effect early this year.

"The U.S. president also commented that South Korea was playing a leadership role in international affairs," the party official said.

"In response, the president-elect commented that it will be a pleasure to work with President Obama during her five-year term in office and by working closely with each other, further strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance," the spokeswoman said.

Throughout her campaign, Park emphasized the importance of the long-standing U.S. alliance and its significance for South Korea. 

The two leaders also touched on the need to strengthen cross-border relations across the board and agreed to hold a summit meeting in the near future, so they can discuss ways to enhance cooperation on such global issues as preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction and environmental protection, the party official said after the 11-minute-long phone conversation.

Besides the rocket launch issue that is directly related to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, the president-elect thanked Obama for issuing a statement on her election victory earlier in the week.

She then congratulated the U.S. president on winning his second term in office in last month's U.S. presidential race.

The 60-year-old daughter of late President Park Chung-hee, meanwhile, expressed her deep condolences over a deadly shooting tragedy at a school in Connecticut last week.

The phone conversation comes a day after Park met with Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to Seoul. In the meeting, Park said she would like to meet the U.S. president to discuss in detail the future course of bilateral relations.

In regards to the power transfer process, party officials said Park plans to limit her public appearances for the next couple of days to focus on selecting key members of the presidential transition team. Selection is closely watched as many of the team members will join the Cabinet or the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

Party insiders said that the newly elected chief executive wants to pick her first prime minister in January or early February at the latest. Once this process is complete, she will move to name the Cabinet based on recommendations made by the prime minister designate. In addition, Park will likely move to appoint key presidential aides including her chief of staff around the same time.

Five years ago, incumbent President Lee Myung-bak announced the head of the transition team on Dec. 26, followed by a candidate for prime minister and chief of staff on Jan. 28 and Feb. 1 of 2008, respectively.

Sources said that in light of the importance of these first appointments, the president-elect will take her time to carefully screen potential candidates.

"The reason why the selection process is important is because picking the wrong person, who might receive flak for his or her behavior or may have been involved in past wrongdoing, could tarnish the image of her new presidency," a party watcher said. (Yonhap News)