President Yoon embarks on three-day visit to Lithuania for NATO summit meeting

[Yonhap News Photo]

SEOUL -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has embarked on his three-day visit schedule in Lithuania on July 10. The leader will attend a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit meeting to promote the hosting of the World Expo 2030 in South Korea's southern port city of Busan, cooperate with other leaders to strengthen international security cooperation, and expand supply chain collaboration.
 
An aircraft carrying Yoon and his wife Kim Keon-hee arrived at Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, on July 10. The two-day North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit is scheduled to begin on July 11. A total of 31 leaders will discuss security methods for Ukraine, Sweden's NATO application, and other measures to improve the alliance.
 
Yoon will also take part in bilateral talks with 10 leaders from Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Hungary, Romania, Sweden, Estonia, Slovakia, Finland, and Lithuania. The South Korean president will also meet Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio during the summit schedule. In May 2023, the two leaders agreed to send South Korean experts to carry out an inspection project to handle the contaminated water issue in Fukushima, the zero ground of Japan's 2011 nuclear disaster.
 
After completing his schedule in Vilnius, Yoon will depart for Poland on July 12 for a state visit. According to the presidential office, Yoon and Polish President Andrzej Duda would discuss cooperation methods in the defense and nuclear power industries. On July 10, the first two South Korean light fighter jets "FA-50" arrived in Poland. The European nation has earlier signed contracts with South Korea to acquire FA-50 jets, K2 tanks, and K9 self-propelled howitzers.
 
Yoon will also attend a business forum in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, that would involve 89 South Korean business experts including LG Group's chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and Kim Dong-kwan, the vice chairman of Hanwha Group.