President Lee Jae-myung will make a state visit to the Philippines on June 3 for a summit with President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.
President Lee, who visited Singapore for three days starting June 1, departs for Manila on June 3. As his first engagement in the Philippines, Lee will lay a wreath at the monument of Jose Rizal, a prominent independence activist. He will then attend an official welcoming ceremony hosted by President Marcos and the First Lady at Malacañang Palace.
The two leaders will hold a one-on-one meeting followed by an expanded summit. A document exchange ceremony, joint press statement, and state dinner are also scheduled.
On June 4, Lee will visit the Manila Heroes' Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Korean War Memorial and meet with Filipino war veterans and their descendants. He will then attend the Korea-Philippines Business Forum to encourage businesspeople from both countries. The state visit will conclude with a meeting with Korean residents in the Philippines.
National Security Advisor Wi Sung-lac said, "President Lee and President Marcos have maintained active exchanges at the summit level through multilateral forums such as ASEAN and APEC last year, as well as through phone calls and the APEC summit." He added, "Through this visit, we expect to deepen existing cooperation in trade, infrastructure, and defense, while expanding into promising future sectors including nuclear power, shipbuilding, and critical minerals."
Meanwhile, President Lee adopted a joint declaration on launching negotiations to upgrade the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during their summit the previous day. The two countries also signed five memoranda of understanding in areas including artificial intelligence, digital technology, science and technology, and small modular reactors.