PRESS DIGEST - South Korean newspapers - Mar 13

SEOUL, Mar 13 (Reuters) - The following is a summary of major South Korean newspapers on Thursday, prepared by Reuters in Seoul. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not guarantee their accuracy.

MAEIL BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

Presdient Lee Myung-bak will hold summit talks with U.S. President George W. Bush April 18 and visit Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, according to the presidential office spokesman. Lee is expected to discuss pending issues such as the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement and resuming shuttle diplomacy with Tokyo.

South Korea's exports to the U.S. dropped 7.3 percent compared to last year, making the U.S. the fourth largest market for exports, a rank behind the southeast Asian economic bloc, according to the Finance Ministry.

KOREA ECONOMIC DAILY

The South Korean government is reviewing a plan to create a mega-financial holdings company, expected to reach the scale of 540 trillion won ($556.1 billion), by bringing together three state-run financial bodies, including the Industrial Bank of Korea(IBK) (024110.KS), according to the Finance Ministry.

LG Corp (003550.KS) will invest more than 3 trillion won in research and development this year, the largest amount in the group's history, and add on 1,100 to its R&D staff.

Nokia (NOK1V.HE), the world's top mobile phone maker, is considering relaunching its products in the South Korean market at the end of this year, for the first time since 2003, according to a company official.

($1=971.0 Won)