Yoon-UK Prime Minister Summit... "Closely Communicating on Response to Russia-North Korea Cooperation"

Cooperation in Defense, Defense Industry, Economic Trade, and Climate Change

Yonhap News

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is visiting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to attend the Group of Twenty (G20) summit, held a summit meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the 19th (local time) and exchanged views on current issues, including responses to Russia-North Korea cooperation.

President Yoon evaluated the close communication between the two countries, which is befitting of their "global strategic partnership," as evidenced by the Korea-UK summit held during the NATO summit in July, the strategic dialogue between the two countries' foreign ministers in October, and this recent summit meeting.

Prime Minister Starmer said, "The UK government also values close communication and exploring cooperation measures with allies like South Korea amid rapidly changing circumstances," adding, "Let us continue strategic communication through various opportunities in the future."

The two leaders assessed that various cooperation matters in defense and defense industry, economic and trade, and climate change response, based on the "Downing Agreement" agreed upon during the state visit last November, are being faithfully implemented. In particular, they agreed to communicate more closely to launch the Korea-UK "Diplomatic and Defense 2+2 Meeting," advance defense industry cooperation, achieve early results in the Korea-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) improvement negotiations, and strengthen cooperation in the carbon-free energy (CFE) sector.

Furthermore, they shared evaluations of the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula and trends related to illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, appreciating that the two countries have consistently issued strong condemnation statements in unison on various occasions, and agreed to cooperate closely for unified responses going forward. They especially agreed that security in Northeast Asia and Europe is more interconnected than ever and pledged to stand in solidarity with the international community for peace and reconstruction in Ukraine.

The two leaders also agreed to strengthen cooperation on international stages such as the United Nations Security Council, the Group of Seven (G7), and the Group of Twenty (G20), and to continue strategic communication on various regional and global issues.