French President Emmanuel Macron will visit South Korea in April. Visits by German and British leaders, or bilateral summits with them, are also expected to follow.
According to diplomatic sources on the 29th, President Macron is scheduled to visit Seoul in April for a summit with President Lee Jae-myung. While the two leaders held their first summit at the G20 meeting in South Africa last November, this will be Macron's first visit to South Korea since taking office in 2017. The last French presidential visit was by François Hollande in 2015.
Presidents Lee and Macron are expected to discuss strengthening cooperation in energy, defense, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. This year also marks the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The French Embassy in Seoul plans to hold various events throughout the year, including the opening ceremony of the "Centre Pompidou × Hanwha Seoul" museum in June.
Beyond Macron, mutual visits with Germany and the United Kingdom are also under steady discussion. President Lee met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the G20 summit last November and promised a "next meeting." President Lee also met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the G7 summit in Canada in June last year, just two weeks after his administration launched. Such summits at multilateral events make in-depth discussions difficult as leaders meet multiple counterparts in succession.
The last British prime minister to visit Seoul solely for bilateral talks was Tony Blair in 2003. David Cameron visited for the G20 summit held in Seoul in 2010. For Germany, former Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Korea in 2023, thirteen years after former Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit in 2010.
A diplomatic source said specific schedules for visits by German and British leaders have not been confirmed but noted "the atmosphere is quite different from the past." As conflicts with the United States deepen over reciprocal tariffs and the Ukraine issue, major European countries are looking to South Korea as a reliable "like-minded partner," the source explained. South Korea has seen its economic and cultural standing surge in recent years and is regarded as a country with excellent defense manufacturing capabilities, promising synergies in security cooperation.