President Lee Jae Myung, right, and first lady Kim Hea Kyung, left, pose for a commemorative photo with children at a dinner event for members of the Korean community in Chile at a hotel in Santiago on July 29.JOINT PRESS CORPS
President Lee Jae Myung emphasized that Korea’s cooperation with Chile is expanding to critical minerals, clean energy, AI and culture as he began a visit to Santiago on Wednesday.
“Chile was not only the first South American nation to recognize the South Korean government in 1949, the year following its establishment, but it was also our first FTA partner,” Lee said at a dinner event for some 100 members of the Korean community in Chile, including representatives of business, sports, religious, cultural and educational sectors. “When Korea began to expand its economic doors to the world, Chile became our precious partner.”
Lee’s trip marked the first visit by a Korean president to Chile in 11 years. He was scheduled to hold a summit with Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast and attend a bilateral business roundtable on Thursday.
The Korea-Chile FTA took effect in 2004, and the two countries are now working to modernize their bilateral free trade pact.
“We are now witnessing a new future for Korea-Chile relations, where the people of both nations share deeper trust and friendship through K-pop, K-drama, Korean food and the Korean language,” Lee said. “The horizons of cooperation between our two countries are gradually expanding, ranging from critical minerals and clean energy to digital technology, AI, science and technology and culture.”
He asked the Korean diaspora to serve as a strong bridge between the two countries and pledged that the government will listen closely to their voices.
Earlier Wednesday, Lee and first lady Kim Hea Kyung arrived in Santiago on the presidential jet and were greeted by diplomats including Chile's Foreign Minister Pérez Mackenna and Ambassador to Korea Mathias Francke.
The trip comes as Korea seeks to expand supply chain cooperation with Chile, a country rich in critical minerals such as lithium and copper which are vital for the semiconductor industry.
“Korea and Chile are expected to solidify the foundation for cooperation in resource and energy supply chains, including critical minerals, and expand trade and investment,” presidential spokesperson Kang Yu Jung said in a statement. They are also expected to strengthen cooperation in practical sectors such as public security, defense, infrastructure, maritime affairs and culture in a future-oriented manner.
President Lee Jae Myung, center left, shakes hands with Chilean Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna, center right, upon arriving in Santiago on July 29 for a summit with Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast. Lee is the first Korean president to visit Chile in 11 years.JOINT PRESS CORPS
Lee told Spanish news agency EFE in an interview published Wednesday that the Korea-Chile FTA needs to adapt to the “profound changes” that have taken place over the past two decades.
“Today’s economy is shaped by digital trade, artificial intelligence, clean technologies, resilient supply chains and the transition toward carbon neutrality,” Lee told EFE, adding that the FTA “must evolve to reflect these new realities.”
Lee is on an 11-day tour which will earlier took him to San Francisco to meet with Big Tech leaders and then to Brazil for a state visit. His three-country South America tour comes as Lee seeks to expand economic cooperation with Mercosur, a South American trade bloc, and will take him later this week to Argentina.
The president will wrap up his trip with a meeting with the Korean community in Germany before he returns to Seoul Monday.
