President Lee Jae Myung Wraps Up New York Schedule, Including Summit with Trump, and Departs for Mexico

 Financial News, New York (the United States) — Reporter Choi Jong-geunPresident Lee Jae Myung departed New York for Mexico on the 23rd (local time) after concluding his schedule for the United Nations General Assembly, beginning a state visit to Mexico.
The visit comes at the invitation of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and marks the first state visit to Mexico by a South Korean leader in 16 years. On the 24th, President Lee is scheduled to hold one-on-one and expanded summit talks with President Sheinbaum in Mexico City. The leaders are expected to discuss trade and investment, supply chains, advanced industries, and cultural cooperation.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, President Lee said, "Mexico is a strategic hub linking North America and Latin America, as well as South Korea's largest trading and investment partner in Latin America." He added, "During this visit, we will pool our wisdom to further develop the strategic partnership established by the two countries in 2005 and turn it into tangible results felt by our people and businesses."
He also wrote, "Last May, I went up to the Zócalo with BTS and met with citizens. Cultural exchanges between South Korea and Mexico are also growing closer." He added, "We will broaden cooperation beyond the economy and trade to future industries such as AI and digital technology, aerospace, and defense, while further expanding cultural and people-to-people exchanges."
Earlier, during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, President Lee held a summit with United States President Donald Trump and discussed key issues between South Korea and the United States, including the transfer of wartime operational control, nuclear-powered submarines, and shipbuilding cooperation. It was the first time the transfer of wartime operational control had been discussed at the leaders' level. President Trump reaffirmed his willingness to engage in dialogue with North Korea, and the two leaders agreed to continue follow-up consultations promptly in Washington to advance key issues such as wartime operational control and nuclear-powered submarines.


Wi Sung-lac, director of the Blue House's Office of National Security, said at a briefing at the New York Press Center, "The leaders of South Korea and the United States held talks for approximately 30 minutes, beginning at 7:20 p.m." He added, "At the summit, the two leaders welcomed the significant progress made in discussions on strategic investment projects between the two countries." In connection with this, the government finalized construction of the Encinal gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Texas as its first investment project in the United States and reported it to the National Assembly.
Wi said, "Based on the joint explanatory document released at the South Korea-U.S. summit last November, the two leaders confirmed their shared resolve to further deepen cooperation in areas including fuel for nuclear-powered submarines, enrichment and reprocessing, shipbuilding cooperation, and the transfer of wartime operational control, and agreed to pursue follow-up consultations." With the summit now taking place, attention is focused on whether discussions on security issues between South Korea and the United States, which had made limited progress, will gain momentum.
President Lee also held his third summit with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese since taking office, discussing shared concerns including energy supply-chain uncertainty stemming from the situation in Hormuz and defense cooperation.
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Lee proposed a phased approach involving the "suspension, reduction, and dismantlement" of North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities, along with the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula through the resumption of North Korea-U.S. dialogue.
The plan is to promptly resume North Korea-U.S. dialogue and develop it into dialogue among the parties concerned aimed at ending the war on the Korean Peninsula and transitioning to a peace regime. Given that South Korea and North Korea, as well as the United States, China, and other countries concerned, have recognized the need for a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, the goal is to launch substantive discussions on building such a regime through multilateral dialogue.
President Lee said, "South Korea will work to lay the groundwork for the long-stalled North Korea-U.S. dialogue to resume promptly and develop into dialogue among the parties concerned aimed at ending the war on the Korean Peninsula and transitioning to a peace regime."

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