Yoon Holds Summit with Latvian President... "Expanding Cooperation in Bio, Pharmaceuticals, and Defense"

President Linkevicius Visits Korea After 6 Years
Cooperation on Air Defense Network and Drone Capability Enhancement
Strong Concerns Over Illegal Military Cooperation Between Russia and North Korea

President Yoon Suk-yeol is taking a commemorative photo with Latvian President Egils Levits at the Korea-Latvia summit held on the 28th at the Yongsan Presidential Office building in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

President Yoon Suk-yeol held a summit meeting with Edgar Rinkevics, President of Latvia, who is visiting Korea on the 28th, and agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in fields such as bio-pharmaceuticals, security, and defense industry.

According to the Presidential Office, President Yoon held a summit meeting with President Rinkevics at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon and exchanged views on ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries as well as regional and international affairs.

President Yoon welcomed President Rinkevics’ visit to Korea as president for the first time in six years since he came as foreign minister in 2018. President Rinkevics also expressed his pleasure in choosing Korea as his first Asian destination after taking office.

Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1991, the two countries have developed a cooperative relationship for 33 years. At the summit meeting, they agreed to further strengthen cooperation in various fields such as trade and investment, bio-pharmaceuticals, security and defense, and human exchanges as like-minded countries sharing common values.

President Yoon especially expressed his expectation that Korea, which possesses world-class bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities, and Latvia, which has many global pharmaceutical companies, will expand cooperation in the bio-pharmaceutical sector.

President Rinkevics said, "I hope Latvia can serve as a bridgehead for Korean bio-pharmaceutical companies entering the European market."

President Yoon Suk-yeol is watching Edgars Rink?vi?s, President of Latvia, sign the guestbook ahead of the Korea-Latvia summit held on the 28th at the Yongsan Presidential Office building in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

President Yoon also mentioned Latvia’s recent efforts to strengthen its defense capabilities and proposed actively exploring possibilities for defense industry cooperation between the two countries. President Rinkevics responded that Korea is a reliable security partner and expressed hope for cooperation in defense fields such as air defense network construction and drone capability enhancement.

In addition, Presidents Yoon and Rinkevics welcomed the conclusion of the 'Working Holiday Agreement' between the two countries this year and agreed to promptly conclude a 'Social Security Agreement' to expand human exchanges and economic cooperation between the two countries.

They also discussed North Korea’s illegal military cooperation with Russia, including the recent dispatch of troops to Russia.

The two leaders expressed strong concern over Russia and North Korea threatening global security beyond the Korean Peninsula and Europe, and agreed to cooperate to ensure the international community continues to send firm messages.

The Presidential Office reported that President Rinkevics condemned North Korea’s development of nuclear missile programs and various provocations and expressed support for the South Korean government’s North Korea policy.