S KOREAN PRES, BRITISH PM CALL FOR JOINT EFFORTS TO FIGHT CRISIS.

LONDON, April 1 Asia Pulse - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed Tuesday to join efforts in the fight against the global financial crisis and pledged to increase bilateral cooperation on international issues such as climate change.

The joint call came as the two leaders were set to take part in a meeting of G-20 economies that includes the United States, Japan, China and the European Union here Thursday.

"The leaders agreed it was important for their countries to produce concrete measures to help overcome the financial crisis as the G-20 London summit will be held amid a global economic downturn," the South Korean presidential office said in a press release.

Lee has been pushing for a "roll-back" on trade and financial protectionist measures as his export-dependent country is struggling to overcome the global financial meltdown that has cut deeply into its trade volume.

"We must reject all forms of protectionism if we want to revive world trade," the South Korean president was quoted as telling Brown.

Lee also called for joint efforts at the G-20 summit to deal with what he called the "impaired assets" that prompted the ongoing financial crisis, according to his spokesman, Lee Dong-kwan.

Brown agreed on the need to send a strong anti-protectionism message, but noted it will be difficult to find a one-fits-all method to deal with toxic assets because each country has different financial and regulation systems, Lee said.