French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in South Korea on Thursday for a state visit focused on trade, technology and security – following talks in Tokyo where he and Japan’s prime minister agreed to push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, disrupted by the war in the Middle East.
Macron's two-day visit to Seoul will see him visit a war memorial to pay tribute to French soldiers who fought in the Korean War. He will hold summit talks with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Friday.
The two leaders are expected to sign several memorandums of understanding aimed at strengthening cooperation, South Korea’s presidential office said.
The visit will be Macron’s first to South Korea since taking office in 2017 and the first by a French president in 11 years. He is also the first European leader to make a state visit since Lee took office.
“The two presidents plan to discuss cooperation in various fields, including trade, investment, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, space, nuclear energy, as well as science and technology, education, culture, and people to people exchanges,” presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a statement.
The meeting will be the third in-person exchange between Lee and Macron, following talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada last June and the G20 summit in South Africa last November.
Macron visits Japan, South Korea for talks dominated by Middle East war
War backdrop
Before arriving in Seoul, Macron held talks in Tokyo with Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi, where the two leaders agreed to deepen cooperation on critical mineral supply chains, civilian nuclear technology and artificial intelligence.
They also said they would coordinate efforts to push for an end to the US-Israeli war with Iran and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil and gas shipments.
“Because the international situation is so challenging, I believe there is great significance in the leaders of Japan and France deepening their personal ties and making our cooperation even stronger,” Takaichi said after the talks.
Macron said he shared Japan’s position on restoring freedom of navigation in the strait. Japan normally gets around 90 percent of its oil from the Middle East and has begun drawing on its oil reserves as energy costs rise.
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Anniversary year
In Seoul, discussions are also expected to cover international issues, including security on the Korean Peninsula and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, the presidential office said.
Macron’s visit comes as France and South Korea mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
The two countries established formal ties in 1886 with the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between France and the Joseon Dynasty.
(with newswires)
