Jongseop Lee Holds Consecutive Meetings with Foreign and Defense Ministers... Likely to Be Recognized for 'Official Return'

Meeting with Defense Minister Shin Won-sik on Return Day
Today Meeting with Foreign and Industry Ministers
Official Duties Likely Recognized Throughout the Consulate Chiefs Meeting Period

Ambassador Lee Jong-seop to Australia, who is under investigation for allegations of external pressure related to the death of Marine Corporal Chae, returned to South Korea on the 21st through Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport on Yeongjongdo, Incheon, and responded to questions from reporters.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

It has been confirmed that Ambassador Lee Jong-seop to Australia, who sparked controversy over evading investigation into the death of Marine Corporal Chae Sang-byeong, met consecutively with the Ministers of National Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Trade, Industry and Energy after returning to Korea on the 21st.

Although Ambassador Lee returned early, four days before the upcoming heads of mission meeting next week, he is expected to be recognized as having returned for official duties since he held work meetings with the ministers during this period.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 22nd that Ambassador Lee held work consultations by meeting with Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik on the day of his return, the previous day, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deok-geun in the morning, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yeol in the afternoon.

Earlier, Ambassador Lee arrived at Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 around 9:35 a.m. the previous day to attend the major heads of mission meeting on defense industry cooperation, jointly hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, scheduled for the 25th.

With about four days remaining until the meeting, his early return ahead of other heads of mission raised controversy over whether this period was for official or non-official purposes. Typically, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only recognizes one day before and after the meeting as official duty when heads of overseas missions return for meeting purposes.

Regarding this, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official responded until the previous day, "Since we do not know Ambassador Lee’s schedule for the days several days before the meeting, we cannot determine whether that period counts as official duty or not," which added ambiguity.

However, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs releasing Ambassador Lee’s work schedule on this day, it appears that the period he stayed in Korea before the heads of mission meeting will also be recognized as an official return.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "(Ambassador Lee) is scheduled to have official appointments every day next week, including meetings with the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and visits to related agencies and personnel."

In addition to Ambassador Lee, ambassadors from Poland, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar attending this heads of mission meeting will also individually meet with relevant ministry ministers and agency heads next week for work consultations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "Next week, a joint meeting involving heads of missions for defense industry cooperation and related ministries and agencies will be held to broadly discuss regional cooperation measures."

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