Top Salesperson Yoon Urges Macron to Prevent Corporate Discrimination in EU Trade Legislation

Yoon Holds Summit with Macron During France Visit
Expanding Cooperation in Advanced Industries and Space Defense
Unified Stance on "Firm Response" to North Korea's Nuclear and Human Rights Issues

On the 20th (local time), President Yoon Suk-yeol requested French President Emmanuel Macron to "pay special attention to ensure that the new trade legislative measures promoted by the European Union (EU) do not have discriminatory effects on Korean companies." South Korea and France agreed to expand mutual investments in advanced industries such as secondary batteries and batteries, as well as cooperation in space, defense industries, and future collaborations.

President Yoon made this agreement during the Korea-France summit held at the ?lys?e Palace in Paris, as conveyed by Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, in a local briefing.

President Yoon and President Macron decided to combine their efforts in areas including space cooperation triggered by the establishment of the Korea Aerospace Administration, defense cooperation between French Airbus and Korean companies, clean energy technology cooperation such as next-generation small modular reactors (SMR) and hydrogen energy, and youth startup exchanges and collaborations.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

They also shared the view that a firm response is necessary regarding North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations and human rights issues. Ahead of the summit, President Yoon stated in a joint press release, "The North Korean nuclear and missile threat is a challenge to world peace beyond the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia," emphasizing, "As the next non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, the Republic of Korea will closely cooperate with permanent member France to respond."

President Macron also stressed, "Based on our joint commitment to international law, France will firmly support South Korea in addressing the North Korean nuclear crisis," and emphasized achieving "Complete, Verifiable, and Irreversible Denuclearization" (CVID) of North Korea.

When President Yoon explained the South Korean government's first North Korean human rights report during the summit, President Macron said, "I firmly support the efforts of the South Korean government."

The common interest of the two presidents in pension reform was not discussed during the meeting. A senior official from the presidential office stated, "(Regarding pension reform) there is intense controversy within France," adding, "There was no reason to put this issue on the summit agenda." The official further explained, "Whether there is a direct causal relationship is unclear, but since President Macron's approval ratings are being affected, he may be cautious and did not directly discuss the issue (pension reform) with our president."

The two leaders also agreed to cooperate in diversifying supply chains while reducing excessive dependence on specific countries and specific items in relation to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). A presidential office official added, "Both South Korea and France equally recognize the necessity of supply chain diversification for economic security."

Regarding the recent turning point in U.S.-China relations following U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to China, the official explained, "Secretary Blinken's visit to China is understood as a signal that while competition with China will continue, political and diplomatic ties will not be severed, and dialogue with China will be maintained on issues such as the Indo-Pacific and Ukraine." The official also noted that the U.S. side has provided detailed explanations of the related talks to South Korea, its ally.

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