Lee Jae-myung to head to Canada for G7 in debut trip
President Lee Jae-myung is poised to travel to Canada on Monday to attend the Group of Seven summit in the Kananaskis region, South Korea's national security adviser Wi Sung-lac told reporters Sunday.
Invited to the event as a guest after his inauguration on June 4, Lee, the liberal president, is set to return to Seoul on Wednesday evening.
Wi said Lee's bilateral meetings with leaders at the multilateral summit are being coordinated on the margins of the event during his stay on Monday and Tuesday. He said that holding such meetings to build trust with leaders attending the G7 summit comes "in a very timely fashion," but did not elaborate on who Lee's interlocutors would be.
Lee's top security aide also said that encounters between Lee and US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the upcoming summit would "create momentum" for addressing current economic and trade challenges.
According to a presidential office staffer who declined to be named, a bilateral meeting in Canada between Lee and Trump, in particular, would "provide an impetus for working-level talks" between Seoul and Washington, but the official did not immediately explain potential arrangements for Lee to meet the leader of South Korea's closest ally.
During the expanded G7 session Tuesday, Lee will deliver remarks on achieving resilience in energy-related supply chains through diversification and on Seoul's role in forging a global artificial intelligence ecosystem, according to the presidential office.
Lee's address at the forum will "enable South Korea to enhance its international standing as a member country of the 'G7 Plus,'" Wi said.
The G7 summit is an economic forum comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union is also a member.
Along with South Korea, this year's event will also feature the leaders of India, Ukraine, Mexico, South Africa and the United Nations.
Wi said Lee’s attendance at the G7 summit will serve as a declaration to the world that South Korea had moved past six months of political turmoil following former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed attempt to impose martial law in December.
"We are telling the world that South Korea has overcome the crisis in its democracy and that democratic (South Korea) is back," Wi said.
According to the presidential office, Lee "might have a chance" to sit down for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but Lee's office added that Seoul was not considering providing an additional batch of humanitarian aid or loans to Ukraine. Seoul's commitments during the conservative Yoon administration are estimated to be worth over $2.5 billion, including those made through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund.
As for the possibility that the G7 summit could address matters related to the recent Israel-Iran conflict, the presidential office said Lee's stance on the matter would be based on Seoul's previous statement, which "(urged) all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint and deescalate tensions" in the Middle East.
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