SEOUL, July 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will leave for Europe next week to attend the G-8 summit and to pay official visits to Poland and Sweden, the presidential office said Wednesday.

    President Lee will first visit Warsaw, Poland to meet with Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

    During the summit between leaders of South Korea and Poland, the two presidents will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their bilateral relations and discuss ways to enhance their diplomatic ties, according to the press release by the presidential office.

    President Lee is then scheduled to head for L'Aguila, Italy, where he will take part in the G-8 Extended Summit and the Major Economies Forum (MEF), where leaders from 17 countries will attendto discuss on climate changes, the presidential office said.

    Lee will wrap up his meeting by paying a three-day visit to Sweden where he will hold talks with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and later with Sweden's monarch King Carl XVI Gustaf.

    Lee, after staying a week in the European countries, will return home on July 14.