President Lee Myung-bak returned to Korea late-Wednesday after attending the G8 summit in Japan.

By attending the two-day gathering in Toyako, Lee became the first South Korean president to attend the conference of the world’s top industrialized nations. The event also marked Lee’s debut in the multinational diplomatic arena.

During his stay in Japan, Lee held summit talks with leaders of the United States and Russia, among others. He also proposed an incentive system to encourage developing nations to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Lee also laid out a plan to establish a 200-million-dollar partnership among North Asian countries to fight climate change.