Yoon, South Korea-Australia Summit... 'Strengthening Regional Peace, Supply Chains, and Defense Cooperation' (Comprehensive)

G7 Summit Attendance Leads to Summit in Hiroshima
President Yoon: "Hope to Strengthen Strategic Communication for Indo-Pacific Strategy Implementation"
Prime Minister Albanese: "Australia Wants to Enhance Defense Industry and Training Cooperation with Korea"

President Yoon Suk-yeol visited Hiroshima, Japan on the 19th in conjunction with attending the Group of Seven (G7) summit, where he held a Korea-Australia summit with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Norman Albanese. They agreed to strengthen cooperation in various fields including regional peace promotion, global supply chain stability, defense, and defense industry.

At around 5:30 p.m. that day, during the Korea-Australia summit held at a hotel in Hiroshima city, President Yoon evaluated that the relationship between Korea and Australia has deepened in various fields since being elevated to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” in 2021, and discussed these matters, presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon conveyed in a written briefing.

The two leaders emphasized, "As countries that share the value of freedom, let us cooperate more closely to promote peace in the region."

President Yoon said, "In implementing our government’s Indo-Pacific strategy, we intend to further strengthen strategic communication with Australia, a representative like-minded country in the region."

Prime Minister Albanese expressed strong agreement, responding, "I appreciate President Yoon’s leadership in improving Korea-Japan relations and leading regional peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region."

The two leaders also agreed that Korea and Australia, which have complementary economic structures, should continue cooperating to stabilize global supply chains and maintain stable trade of critical minerals essential for the development of future advanced industries. They also agreed to further expand cooperation in defense and defense industry based on past achievements.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Moreover, based on their previous achievements, the two countries agreed to further expand cooperation in defense and defense industry. Prime Minister Albanese stated, "I hope to concretize plans to expand bilateral defense industry cooperation during the visit of the Australian Minister of Defense to Korea next week," and added, "I hope to increase the number of regional military exercises involving both countries in the future."

Regarding this, the two leaders shared the view that North Korea’s unprecedented provocations pose a serious threat not only to the Indo-Pacific region but also to the peace and prosperity of the entire international community, and agreed to cooperate more closely.

At the summit, the Korean side was accompanied by Foreign Minister Park Jin, National Security Office Director Cho Tae-yong, First Deputy Director of the National Security Office Kim Tae-hyo, Presidential Office Chief of Public Relations Kim Eun-hye, and Presidential Office Chief Secretary for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok.

The Australian side was accompanied by Prime Minister Albanese’s Senior Foreign Policy Advisor Cathy Klugman, G7 and G20 Sherpa Katrina Cooper, Australian Ambassador to Japan Justin Hayhurst, Deputy Secretary of the Prime Minister’s International Security Group Scott Dewie, who also serves as Sherpa for the Quad (the security dialogue among the United States, Japan, Australia, and India).

Previously, President Yoon held a Korea-Australia summit with Prime Minister Albanese in Madrid, Spain, in June last year while attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit.

At that time, the two leaders discussed ▲energy and climate change cooperation ▲North Korean nuclear issues ▲solidarity on values and norms ▲ASEAN centrality ▲the bid to host Expo 2030 Busan ▲mutual invitations for summit visits and proposals for annual meetings. President Yoon was also reported to have conveyed the willingness of Korean companies to participate in green hydrogen cooperation.

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