French President Emmanuel Macron (L), his spouse Brigitte Macron (again C) and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (C) and his spouse Kim Hea Kyung (R) attend the welcome ceremony on the presidential Blue Home in Seoul on April 3, 2026.
Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Pictures
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and French President Emmanuel Macron stated on Friday they deliberate to spice up protection cooperation and work collectively to handle the financial and vitality crises triggered by the struggle in Iran.
Macron arrived in South Korea on Thursday for a two-day state go to after additionally visiting Japan, and held a summit in Seoul on Friday.
It’s the first state go to by a French president since 2015 and French officers have stated the journey goals to strengthen France’s strategic and financial position within the area at a time of “robust worldwide and regional tensions.”
“President Macron and I agreed to share policy-related experiences and methods with a purpose to collectively tackle the financial and vitality crises triggered by the Center East struggle,” Lee stated after the summit.
The leaders additionally confirmed their dedication to bolstering vitality safety, together with by collaborating to safe protected maritime transport routes by the Strait of Hormuz, he stated.
Like different Asian economies, South Korea depends closely on vitality imports, together with by the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has successfully shut down the waterway in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli assaults that started on February 28, driving up vitality costs and stoking fears of a world recession.
Macron stated on Thursday that it might be unrealistic to launch a navy operation to pressure open the strait, after U.S. President Donald Trump challenged U.S. allies to work in the direction of reopening it.
Protection ties
Macron stated after Friday’s summit that the nations, each main arms producers, would try to spice up their protection ties.
“What we wish to do is give this cooperation a up to date dimension,” Macron stated, citing joint workout routines and extra cooperation in manufacturing and in crucial navy capabilities.
“On either side, we wish to equip ourselves with larger strategic depth in navy manufacturing.”
Lee additionally stated the nations will additional broaden cooperation in safety fields resembling aerospace and protection.
South Korea and France are on account of signal quite a few preliminary agreements to cooperate in sectors together with crucial minerals, semiconductors, quantum applied sciences, nuclear vitality and wind energy, Lee’s workplace stated.
The nations additionally aimed to improve bilateral commerce to $20 billion by 2030 from $15 billion in 2025, Lee stated.
Lee highlighted memoranda of understanding to be signed between South Korea’s state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Energy and French firms Orano and Framatome, saying this might assist safe gas provides for Korean nuclear energy vegetation and lay the muse for joint entry into the worldwide nuclear market.
Lunch and Ok-pop
The 2 leaders may have lunch after their summit, accompanied by about 140 authorities officers and enterprise executives from each nations. Felix, a member of the Ok-pop boy band Stray Children who has been named an honorary ambassador to France, will even attend, Lee’s workplace stated.
On Thursday, a banquet attended by the leaders and their wives was served by chef Son Jong-won, who was on Netflix’s widespread “Culinary Class Wars”, the Blue Home stated. Signed CDs from high Ok-pop acts like BTS, Stray Children and G-DRAGON had been additionally ready as items for France’s First Girl Brigitte Macron.
The French president is scheduled to ship a speech at Yonsei College in Seoul after the summit and attend a enterprise discussion board alongside Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, in line with the Blue Home.
Macron is scheduled to satisfy the CEOs of Samsung, Naver and Hyundai Motor throughout the journey as he seeks to spice up French exports to South Korea and entice Korean funding into France’s industrial and expertise sectors, in line with the Elysee.