Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, will represent the EU. President Yoon Suk-Yeol will represent the Republic of Korea (hereafter South Korea).
The summit will be an opportunity to send a strong signal of increased cooperation between two like-minded partners.
The leaders will take stock of the progress made to advance their wide-ranging strategic partnership and will discuss the following issues:
- peace and stability
- economy and trade
- sustainable development
Peace and stability
The EU and South Korea are expected to express their strong joint support for upholding the rules-based international order.
The leaders will discuss the latest developments related to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Since the start of Russia’s war, the EU and its member states have made available around €70 billion to Ukraine and its people. They have also adopted unprecedented measures against Russia.
EU response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (background information)
Leaders are also expected to discuss North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches, its ongoing nuclear programme and South Korea’s ‘Audacious Initiative’, a roadmap for building peace and security through the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
EU restrictive measures against North Korea (background information)
The EU and South Korea will also tackle issues related to:
- navigation and overflight in the South China Sea
- security and stability of the Indo-Pacific
- multilateralism
- maritime security
- cybersecurity
- foreign information manipulation and interference
Trade and economy
Leaders will review the progress made in their economic partnership, which is based on the South Korea-EU free trade agreement.
The topics on their agenda are:
- market access for agri-food products
- labour issues
- the reform of the World Trade Organization
- cooperation on economic security and addressing supply chain disruptions
Faced with issues on the global energy market, they will discuss how to speed up the clean energy transition and decarbonisation.
They will also explore ways to further deepen their cooperation on various digital and data protection issues as well as on industrial competitiveness.
Sustainable development
The EU and South Korea will discuss the challenges related to climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Leaders are expected to launch the South Korea-EU Green Partnership to reinforce their cooperation in transitioning to a net-zero economy.
Also on the agenda of the summit:
- management of cross-border health problems
- air transport cooperation
- education and culture
Previous summit
At the previous summit in 2018, EU and South Korean leaders reaffirmed their strong ties and their commitment to strengthen their strategic partnership.
EU-Republic of Korea summit, 19 October 2018