Strategic partnership inked with Slovakia

President Yoon Suk Yeol (right) is seen with Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico duirng their summit held at Yoon's office in Seoul on Monday. (Pool photo by Yonhap)

The leaders of South Korea and Slovakia agreed to elevate their ties by establishing the strategic partnership on Monday, at a summit held during the Slovak leader's visit to Seoul.

Describing Slovakia as "an important European partner that shares common values in the face of the complex global crises," President Yoon Suk Yeol said during the summit in his office with Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico in Seoul that the strengthened diplomatic engagement would allow the two countries to deepen their cooperation, especially in the area of trade, investment, energy security and defense industry.

Yoon also said that the elevated ties will mark "a new milestone in their history of bilateral cooperation and a cornerstone for future ties" in the next three decades.

Fico, who officially visited South Korea during his first term as prime minister in 2007, also said his focal point for the visit was in nuclear energy, trade and investment. South Korea was the first country he visited in the Indo-Pacific region since becoming prime minister again in October 2023, given that South Korea "holds great significance" in the region.

Fico also expressed his gratitude to Yoon for showing "positive feedback" in its bid to seek nuclear energy cooperation with Seoul and for sending his best wishes when he was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt in May. Fico is serving his third term as the country's prime minister.

With the bilateral talks between Yoon and Fico, South Korea became the first Asian country with which Slovakia forged a strategic partnership, according to Yoon's office. Slovakia has forged similar ties with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Czechia (widely known as the Czech Republic), Poland, Hungary and Azerbaijan.

Also, the summit allowed South Korea to form the same level of bilateral relations with all four Central European countries in the Visegrad Group: Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czechia.

In this regard, the industry ministers of the two countries, including Ahn Duk-geun of South Korea, signed two memorandums of understanding, one to establish the trade and investment promotion framework and the other to lay out the comprehensive cooperation in the field of energy.

Through the signing, the two countries affirmed their commitment to facilitating energy transition by introducing carbon-free energy -- such as nuclear energy, renewables and hydrogen -- to address climate change.

In return, Slovakia promised regional investment incentives for investors and a preferential tax regime for companies with research and development operations.

Trade volume between South Korea and Slovakia has gradually increased over the past few decades. The figure in 2023 came to $3.9 billion, up from $3.66 in 2022 and $3.09 billion in 2020.

South Korea's cumulative foreign direct investment in Slovakia amounted to $1.58 billion as of March, with auto manufacturer Kia and electronic device maker Samsung Electronics and more having a presence in the central European country.

In the joint statement, Seoul and Bratislava also expressed continued support for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and called for the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. They also expressed concern over the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, and commitments to strengthening cooperation to promote human rights in North Korea.

South Korea and Slovakia forged diplomatic ties in 1993.

Fico was the first Slovak leader to visit Seoul after former Slovak President Andrej Kiska came to South Korea twice in 2018.

Monday's summit comes a few weeks after Yoon's official visit to Czechia earlier in September as a consortium of South Korean firms is working to finalize the deal to build two nuclear energy units in Czechia to deliver what is expected to be a 24 trillion-won ($18.3 billion) project.

By Son Ji-hyoung(consnow@heraldcorp.com)