[News Spot] 'Vilnius' Hosting the NATO Summit

'Vilnius' is the capital of Lithuania, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania, along with Estonia and Latvia, is known as one of the Baltic States, with a land area of 65,300 km², approximately 0.65 times the size of South Korea.

Vilnius is about 312 km away from Klaipeda, Lithuania's largest port city on the Baltic Sea coast, 380 km northeast of Warsaw, the capital of Poland, and 180 km northwest of Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

NATO flags are flying in front of Vilnius Airport on the 10th (local time), one day before the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit.
[Photo by Yonhap News, Vilnius (Lithuania)]

The name Vilnius originates from its location on both banks of the Vilija River, a tributary of the Neman River. Its old name is Vilna (Вильна, Wilna). The city covers an area of 401 km² and had a population of approximately 592,400 as of last year. About 60% of the population are Lithuanians, with Poles making up 20%, Russians 14%, and Belarusians 4%. Lithuanian, Russian, and Polish are spoken.

Having experienced both World War I and II, Vilnius was occupied by the former Soviet Union, Germany, and Poland, and it is a city that bears the sorrow of the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Jews. It was founded in 1323 by Gediminas of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and became the capital of Lithuania in 1939.

Vilnius is a key point on the international railway connecting Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. It has developed industries such as precision machinery, machine tools, and electrical products, but there is no subway system in Lithuania. July is the hottest month with an average temperature of about 18°C, while winters are very cold with heavy snowfall and sea winds, often dropping below -25°C.

President Yoon Suk-yeol arrived in Vilnius on the evening of the 10th (local time) to begin a 6-day, 4-night official visit including the NATO summit and an official visit to Poland. On the 11th, President Yoon will meet with a delegation of U.S. senators attending the NATO meeting in Vilnius, including Senator Ricketts.