Seoul, June 7 (IANS) South Korean President Lee Jae-myung will attend the summit of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced countries in Canada later this month as he has received an invitation to the event, his office said on Saturday.
Lee will take part in the G7 summit in Alberta from June 15-17, according to presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung.
It will mark Lee’s debut on the multilateral diplomatic stage after he took office on Wednesday following his victory in the June 3 presidential election.
South Korea is not a G7 member state but was invited to the expanded G7 sessions in 2021 and 2023, when Britain and Japan were the host countries, respectively.
On the sidelines of the G7 summit, there is a possibility that Lee could hold bilateral talks with US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. A trilateral summit among the three leaders could also be held.
Amid renewed US-China tensions, Lee vowed to pursue “pragmatic” diplomacy centred on national interests.
He said the South Korea-US alliance remains the foundation of Seoul’s foreign policy, also vowing to strengthen the trilateral partnership with the US and Japan, which was bolstered under the previous administration, based on a solid Seoul-Washington alliance.
Lee held his first phone talks with Trump on Friday night, and they agreed to swiftly reach a mutually satisfactory agreement on US tariffs on South Korean exports. During the talks, Trump extended an invitation for Lee to visit the US.
Speaking about the 20-minute phone conversation, a Seoul presidential official told reporters the two leaders have “successfully” affirmed their sense of closeness while building an amicable atmosphere, Yonhap news agency reported.
The phone talks marked the resumption of top-level diplomacy with the US following six months of a leadership vacuum in South Korea, triggered by former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law bid in December.
When asked about the possibility of Seoul sending a delegation led by a special envoy to coordinate a potential Lee-Trump summit, the Seoul official said, “Currently, we are more thoroughly preparing for the participation in the G7 summit.”
The official said the government is also in consultations with China and Japan to arrange phone talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ishiba of Japan.
It has not been decided whether Lee will attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders’ gathering in the Netherlands on June 24-25, according to the presidential office.
–IANS
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