[Yoon's Diplomatic Battle]② 33 Bilateral Meetings in a Hectic Schedule... Presence on the International Stage

South Korea's First Salesperson Yoon Achieves Results Through Sales Diplomacy
First Korean to Attend NATO Meeting and Announce Indo-Pacific Strategy, Expanding Allies
Emphasizes Contribution to International Community and Secures Leadership

Since his inauguration on May 10 last year, President Yoon Suk-yeol has actively participated in various summits and multilateral meetings, starting with the summit with U.S. President Joe Biden held just 11 days after his inauguration. He has clearly stated the position that the international order based on universal values such as liberal democracy, human rights, and the rule of law must be maintained, and has sought to firmly establish South Korea’s position in rapidly changing international relations caused by North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, the war in Ukraine, intensified U.S.-China conflicts, and the global supply chain crisis by actively securing allies.

According to the Presidential Office on the 21st, excluding informal talks and phone calls, President Yoon has attended 33 bilateral meetings and 13 multilateral meetings over 11 months since his inauguration, visiting nine countries. Among these, countries with which he held bilateral summits more than twice include the United States, Japan, Canada, and the Netherlands?countries closely linked to South Korea in regional security, economy, and supply chain sectors.

During the same period, former President Moon Jae-in attended 47 bilateral meetings and 9 multilateral meetings and visited 10 countries. Although the number of bilateral meetings and visited countries is fewer than Moon’s, even without considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the early days of Yoon’s term or the absence of international events like the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, the variety and frequency of multilateral meetings attended have diversified.

South Korea’s First Salesperson Yoon Achieves Results through Sales Diplomacy

[Image source=Yonhap News]

First, sales diplomacy is considered an indispensable diplomatic schedule for President Yoon, who has proclaimed himself South Korea’s first salesperson. During his first overseas visit to Spain, he held summits with Australia, the Netherlands, France, Poland, the European Union (EU), T?rkiye (Turkey), Denmark, the Czech Republic, Canada, and the United Kingdom, promoting the excellence of South Korea’s nuclear power and defense industries. As a result, a basic agreement worth about 20 trillion won was signed with Poland in July last year, including exports of K-2 Black Panther tanks, K-9 self-propelled howitzers, and FA50 light attack aircraft.

In September last year, during his visit to the United States for the UN General Assembly, he secured investments totaling $1.15 billion from seven global companies in advanced industries, formed a Korea-U.S. global venture fund worth $220 million, and attracted $100 million in investments for about 40 startups through a startup summit event. During his Southeast Asia tour in November of the same year, he agreed to strengthen supply chains, nuclear power, defense, infrastructure cooperation, and trade with Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia through summits. With Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, the first foreign guest at the Hannam-dong presidential residence, they agreed to jointly pursue 26 large-scale projects worth $29 billion (about 38.8 trillion won).

This year, President Yoon has sought investment attraction targeting foreign governments and companies along with a large economic delegation composed of domestic large, medium, and small enterprises. Notably, during his state visit to the UAE, not only was the Korea-UAE relationship elevated, but the UAE sovereign wealth fund agreed to invest $30 billion (about 40 trillion won) in South Korea across seven future sectors including traditional energy, defense, climate change, and space. Last month, President Yoon made a solo visit to Japan for the first time in 12 years to hold a one-on-one summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, conducting economic diplomacy. The two leaders agreed to lift export restrictions on three semiconductor material sectors and withdraw the WTO complaint, and the restoration of relations between companies of both countries is now underway.

First Korean Attendance at NATO Summit and Indo-Pacific Strategy Announcement... Expanding Allies to Overcome Crises

[Image source=Yonhap News]

By actively expressing the South Korean government’s position on strengthening relations with allies and regional issues, President Yoon has achieved records as the first among former presidents in diplomacy. First, he held a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden just 11 days after taking office, the fastest ever, elevating the alliance to a global comprehensive and strategic alliance, and is promoting trilateral military cooperation among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan to deter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats while advancing advanced industry development and supply chain stabilization. Notably, in January this year, President Yoon agreed with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to elevate bilateral relations to a “special strategic partnership,” the highest level of cooperation encompassing economic, industrial, scientific, and climate change sectors. Relations with major Western countries such as Canada and the Netherlands have also been upgraded, establishing cooperation in minerals, AI, and advanced industries.

Additionally, in June last year, President Yoon attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit as a partner country for the first time among South Korean presidents, discussing the war in Ukraine, North Korean nuclear issues, and supply chain crises. In November last year, during the ASEAN summit held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, he announced South Korea’s first Indo-Pacific strategy, which includes nine key initiatives such as inclusive security cooperation, climate change response, and tailored development cooperation, based on the vision of freedom, peace, and prosperity and the principles of inclusion, trust, and mutual benefit. At that time, President Yoon also proposed the Korea-ASEAN solidarity initiative to elevate relations with ASEAN to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Through this, President Yoon’s strategy is to build cooperative systems not only with Western advanced countries but also with emerging countries such as those in Southeast Asia to ensure security and economic stability. Following the visit of then Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc in December last year, Vietnam, a key partner in the Korea-ASEAN solidarity initiative, was elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Yoon Emphasizes Contribution and Solidarity to Enhance South Korea’s Presence on the International Stage

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Emphasizing contributions to the international community and a sense of solidarity, President Yoon is actively working to secure South Korea’s international leadership. Starting with his speech at the UN General Assembly last September, he appeared before global leaders and, during the G20 2022 in Indonesia last November and the World Economic Forum (WEF) keynote speech in Switzerland in January this year, called for overcoming supply chain crises, restoring the free trade system, and international solidarity.

In particular, as a co-host of the 2nd Democracy Summit held virtually on the 29th and 30th of last month, President Yoon pledged $100 million in contributions to the Indo-Pacific region and agreed with the United States that South Korea will host the 3rd Democracy Summit next year.

Furthermore, President Yoon plans to chair the Korea-Pacific Island Countries Summit under the theme “Voyage Toward Shared Prosperity: Strengthening Blue Pacific Cooperation” in Seoul on the 29th and 30th of next month, concretizing the implementation of the Indo-Pacific strategy.

A senior official from the Presidential Office explained, “Since its launch, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has conducted diplomacy not only to secure traditional security but also economic security, a new concept, and contributions to the international community amid changes in the international order. These efforts will continue with schedules aimed at diplomacy that leads to tangible results.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.