President Yoon Suk-yeol says he “pays no attention to” approval ratings, calling them “meaningless,” but some critics say he should take the poll more seriously and devise measures to dispel public worries. Disapproval ratings for Yoon’s handling of state affairs continued to outperform his approval ratings on Monday despite last week’s trip to the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, during which the administration focused on building security and economic ties

Politics July 4, 2022

Korea’s future growth depends on nuclear power plants, green technology, chips and next-generation electric batteries, President Yoon Suk-yeol said Sunday, basing his statement on discussions he held with several Western leaders on the sidelines of the NATO summit last week. Yoon returned home on Friday after attending the summit held in Madrid, Spain, seeking to strengthen security and economic ties with Western partners. He held 10 bilateral talks on the sidelines of the event, seeking

Foreign Affairs July 3, 2022

President Yoon Suk-yeol said his participation in the trilateral summit with the US and Japan, and the NATO summit did not aim to "exclude China" but added universal norms and values should be respected and protected. Holding a press briefing on the plane en route to Seoul from Madrid on Friday, Yoon delivered his thoughts on his first trip and meetings with NATO allies and partners. “We have been partners with NATO since 2006 and Korea has cooperated with NATO in Afghanist

Latest News July 1, 2022

MADRID – South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a NATO summit in Madrid on Thursday to discuss South Korea-NATO cooperation and exchange views on major international issues, including those pertaining to the Korean Peninsula. President Yoon said that South Korea and NATO have been closely cooperating and responding to various challenges facing the international community since establishing the global partnership in 2006, according t

Foreign Affairs July 1, 2022

President Yoon Suk-yeol had a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the occasion of attending the NATO Summit on Thursday. The two leaders adopted a “Bilateral Framework for Closer Cooperation” encompassing a vision of bilateral relations and discussed key international issues, including peace on the Korean Peninsula. President Yoon said, “We are pleased to have adopted the Korea-UK framework on the occasion of today‘s talks and evaluated that

Foreign Affairs June 30, 2022

MADRID -- President Yoon Suk-yeol had a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, reaffirming their efforts to deal with North Korean provocations and the Ukraine crisis, on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Trudeau said he fully agrees with the future-oriented bilateral relationship with South Korea, and explained that Canada’s newly announced Indo-Pacific strategy puts close relations with regional partners such as Korea as a top priority, according to the presid

Foreign Affairs June 30, 2022

MADRID -- President Yoon Suk-yeol’s first overseas trip had exceeded expectations, the presidential office said Wednesday, crediting the administration’s two-track strategy of attending security-themed NATO meetings and economy-focused bilateral summits. “As the Asia-Pacific value issue is inseparable from that of Europe and security issues in one region are amplified globally, we have reached the awareness that all countries in the global village must work together to s

Foreign Affairs June 30, 2022

MADRID -- The South Korea-Japan bilateral summit some had hoped for did not materialize, but both nations’ leaders appeared sincere at this week’s NATO summit about wanting to improve relations. The invitation of the two countries to the Western military alliance gathering in Madrid, Spain, drew attention to the possibility of a bilateral summit between President Yoon Suk-yeol and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. As Yoon -- even during his presidential campaign -- has promised to

Foreign Affairs June 30, 2022

MADRID -- President Yoon Suk-yeol agreed with Polish President Andrzej Duda agreed Wednesday to expand cooperation in energy and defense, indicating the likelihood that the European nation may procure Korean weapons soon. The two met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid. Afterward, Choi Sang-mok, senior secretary for economic affairs, said in a briefing that tangible results are expected soon in the defense sector. “The defense cooperation b

Foreign Affairs June 30, 2022

MADRID -- President Yoon Suk-yeol called on the international community to strengthen its determination to denuclearize North in a three-minute speech at the NATO summit Wednesday. It was the first time a South Korean president has spoken on the NATO stage. Yoon was the seventh to take the podium at the meeting of heads of state and government, following British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. "North Korea’s nuclear and missile program clearly violates UN Security Council resolutions,&r

Foreign Affairs June 30, 2022

MADRID -- Leaders of South Korea, the US and Japan expressed concern about the North Korean nuclear threat and reaffirmed their will to jointly devise a strong deterrent against North Korea, in a three way summit before the NATO allies and partners summit on Wednesday. The trilateral talk was the first in four years and nine months since the last held on the occasion of the UN General Assembly in September 2017. The three-way summit was organized against a backdrop of a prolonged Russian invas

Foreign Affairs June 29, 2022

MADRID -- A trilateral meeting between leaders of South Korea, the US and Japan for the first time in nearly five years set for Wednesday has fanned speculations about the strengthening of three-way cooperation in economic and security issues. The meeting among South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the NATO summit was expected to be an opportunity for the three sides to affirm the need to raise the leve

Foreign Affairs June 29, 2022

MADRID -- President Yoon Suk-yeol, who attended the NATO summit in Madrid, said Wednesday that security cooperation with the US and Japan would become more robust the more North Korea develops its nuclear program. “There is a consensus that Korea, the US and Japan should strengthen security cooperation related to the North Korean nuclear crisis,” Yoon told reporters ahead of the NATO allies-partner summit when asked what kind of proposal he would make at the Korea-US-Japan summit.

National June 29, 2022

MADRID -- President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met again at the four-way meeting with Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday, following surprise talks at a gala dinner a day earlier, sharing ways to cooperate related to the recent international situation and common interests in the Indo-Pacific region. South Korea and the three other Asia-Pacific nations, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, were invited to the NATO summit as partner countries. They met on the day on

National June 29, 2022

MADRID -- South Korea‘s senior presidential secretary for economic affairs said the export boom era through China that South Korea has enjoyed over the past 20 years is coming to an end, adding South Korea needs to diversify its markets to Europe. “As you know, China’s growth is slowing and is shifting to a domestic-oriented strategy,” Choi Sang-mok, senior economic secretary, told reporters at Madrid, where the NATO summit is being held. There, member nations seek to

Foreign Affairs June 29, 2022