Yoon's Relay Summit Tour with 41 Countries... Expo and Supply Chain Cooperation Show Green Light

President Yoon Suk-yeol Attends UN General Assembly
Holds Bilateral Talks with Leaders of 41 Countries over 4 Nights and 6 Days
Yoon Calls Himself a "Talk Machine"... Intelligence Battle to Secure Meeting Venues

President Yoon Suk-yeol is approaching the grand finale of a series of relay meetings with leaders from over 40 countries held in New York on the 21st (local time). Through this series of summit meetings, there is an assessment that a green light has been lit for international support for hosting the 2030 Busan World Expo and for diversifying supply chains through tailored one-on-one economic cooperation.

After delivering a speech at the 'New York Digital Vision Forum' held at New York University on the same day, President Yoon held summit meetings with Ecuador, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, North Macedonia, Nepal, Mongolia, Guinea-Bissau, Slovenia, and Haiti. From the 18th to this day, he has held bilateral talks with leaders from a total of 38 countries. President Yoon plans to hold bilateral meetings with about three more countries before departing on the 22nd, totaling 41 bilateral meetings with heads of state over five days.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Including the 20 summit meetings held during the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit and the G20 Summit from the 5th to the 11th, President Yoon has conducted more than 60 summit meetings just this month. A senior official from the presidential office stated, "It is clear that no president in the past 100 years of world diplomatic history has held 60 bilateral meetings and more than 10 multilateral meetings in one month."

President Yoon himself referred to himself as a 'meeting machine' and reportedly instructed his aides to "schedule as many bilateral meetings as possible." This New York visit also marked the first summit meetings with 10 countries since establishing diplomatic relations. Since all countries have equal voting rights for the Expo hosting site, the intention was to meet with countries that have had relatively small trade volumes so far.

These summit meetings were also occasions to propose one-on-one customized cooperation tailored to each country's situation and to secure allies for the 2030 Busan Expo bid. During a luncheon meeting with President Santiago Pe?a of Paraguay and his spouse, President Yoon and the First Lady reviewed the status of the Korea-Mercosur (Mercosur, the customs union of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) trade agreement (TA) negotiations and explored infrastructure cooperation such as light rail transit.

President Yoon also held a summit meeting with Terrence Drew, Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, agreeing to join forces in cooperation with Korea and the Eastern Caribbean countries and in building advanced medical systems. Discussions were held on education with Sierra Leone, the automotive parts business and electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel sectors with North Macedonia, infrastructure and tourism with Nepal, and carbon neutrality, rare metals and minerals, and new city development with Mongolia.

This series of relay meetings contained a strategy to request support for hosting the 2030 Busan Expo and to secure new markets through customized economic and supply chain cooperation by country and region, using summit meetings as a medium. The fact that many meetings were scheduled with Central Asian, African, and Latin American countries, which are rich in key minerals but still emerging and developing countries, is explained by the presidential office as a strategic move to 'pioneer new markets.' Choi Sang-mok, Chief Secretary for Economic Affairs at the presidential office, said, "President Yoon is actively utilizing the numerous bilateral summit meetings held on the occasion of the UN General Assembly as a playground where our people and companies can compete, that is, to expand markets and thereby create opportunities for quality jobs for our citizens."

The government's efforts in selecting venues and protocol to prevent delays and cancellations of bilateral meetings were also likened to an intelligence operation. The venues for bilateral meetings were set at the Korean Permanent Mission to the UN building, close to the UN Headquarters where the General Assembly is held, and the entire building was decorated as a promotional hall for the 2030 Busan Expo. A large backdrop was installed on the first floor, and two meeting rooms were prepared on the second floor to enable the relay summit meetings to be held without delay. The presidential office also emphasized that Korean protocol officers were dispatched around the UN Headquarters area to conduct intelligence operations to ensure that foreign leaders were brought in on time.

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