South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to Visit France for Summit with Emmanuel Macron

President Lee Jae Myung will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris next week, seeking broader cooperation on security and frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence and nuclear energy, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.

Lee will visit Nice and Paris from Sunday through Wednesday at Macron’s invitation. Macron proposed the state visit and invited Lee to co-chair the Lumiere Summit in Nice during his trip to Seoul in April.

On Monday, Lee will co-chair the inaugural Lumiere Summit, billed as the first international summit devoted to the future of the film and audiovisual industries, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in southern France.

Lee and Macron are expected to lead discussions on the future of the global film and audiovisual industries, drawing on France’s historic role in the birth and development of cinema.

National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said South Korea would also leverage the gathering to “lay a stronger foundation for Korean content and companies to expand into European and global markets.”

The following day, Lee and Macron will hold a summit in Paris, followed by a Korea-France business roundtable, as part of Lee’s two-day state visit.

“Through the summit with the French president, we expect to produce concrete outcomes in cooperation ranging from security and the economy to science and technology, culture, and people-to-people exchanges, while responding to the rapidly shifting global order,” Wi said during a press briefing.

The summit notably comes as the Lee administration weighs options for a military contribution to international efforts to safeguard freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, an issue on which France has taken an active role through both military and diplomatic channels.

France, together with the United Kingdom, has been spearheading efforts to establish a multinational military mission focused on safeguarding freedom of navigation through the strategically vital waterway.

A senior Cheong Wa Dae official said Friday that the Hormuz issue could come up when Lee and Macron meet Tuesday.

“It would be difficult to rule out that possibility, given that France was one of the first countries to actively push for international cooperation to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz,” the official said on condition of anonymity when asked whether the issue could be placed on the summit agenda.

“France has also held consultations with us on the matter, and it was discussed at the previous summit as well.”

During their last summit in Seoul in April, Lee and Macron agreed to work together to help ensure safe maritime transport through the Strait of Hormuz.

Wi said Lee’s visit would also seek to give greater substance to the “global strategic partnership” the two countries elevated in April through practical cooperation spanning security, the economy and people-to-people exchanges.

In particular, Seoul hopes to expand cooperation with France, a leader in future industries, in advanced technology sectors including AI, space, nuclear energy and biotechnology.

“By invigorating exchanges among young people and in science and technology, we will further strengthen the foundation for the sustainable development of bilateral relations,” Wi said.

The two countries also have extensive people-to-people ties. Around 800,000 South Koreans visit France annually, while some 28,000 Koreans reside there, including roughly 10,000 Korean adoptees, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

Wi also underscored France’s strategic importance as the European Union’s second-largest economy, the world’s seventh-largest economy, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and this year’s chair of the Group of Seven.

Against that backdrop, he said the visit would provide “fresh momentum” for South Korea’s broader diplomatic engagement with Europe.

Lee’s state visit also comes as South Korea and France mark the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1886.

“We will make thorough preparations so that this state visit can serve as a new starting point for laying an even stronger foundation for the next 140 years, building on the trust and friendship accumulated between Korea and France over the past 140 years,” Wi said.