President Lee Jaemyung Holds First Meeting with EU Leaders, Affirms Support for Sanctions Against Russia

EU Congratulates Lee Jaemyung on Landslide Victory
Pledges Close Cooperation Based on Security and Defense Partnership

President Lee Jaemyung, who is currently visiting Canada to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit, held his first official meeting with the European Union (EU) leadership on June 17 (local time).

Yonhap News Agency

After their meeting with President Lee in the afternoon, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, issued a joint statement on X (formerly Twitter) saying, "We congratulated President Lee Jaemyung on his landslide presidential victory."

The two leaders emphasized, "The EU and the Republic of Korea are maintaining closer relations than ever before, across all fields," and added, "We pledge to cooperate even more closely under our security and defense partnership, as we face common challenges."

In particular, they noted, "Both sides?Korea and the EU?support a free and sovereign Ukraine, and jointly back strong sanctions against Russia to this end."

The EU is expanding its cooperation with Korea, which is a strategic partner. Following the signing of the Korea-EU Security and Defense Partnership last year, the two sides also concluded a Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) in March this year, making Korea the second country after Singapore to do so.

As Europe is rapidly increasing its defense spending under a policy of rearmament, there are expectations that this could create new export opportunities for the Korean defense industry.

Alexander Lipke, Asia Program Officer at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), pointed out that President Lee Jaemyung had specified strengthening cooperation with Europe as a campaign pledge, and predicted that practical cooperation could be expanded in the fields of defense, trade, and energy. He also stated, "The greatest risk is the possibility of conflict between Korea and the EU over the Russia issue, but President Lee's direction to foster the defense industry could contribute to Europe's rearmament strategy."

Within the EU, the President of the European Commission, who acts as the head of the executive branch, and the President of the European Council, who presides over summits of the 27 member states, are both regarded as heads of state in terms of diplomatic protocol. Accordingly, it is customary for both to attend official multilateral or bilateral meetings together.

Although the EU is not a full member of the G7, it has participated in every G7 summit since 1981, after the United Kingdom, which hosted the G7 in 1977, first invited the European Economic Community (EEC), the EU's predecessor. In particular, since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the EU has played a leading role in major diplomatic issues, such as spearheading sanctions against Russia alongside the United States.