Lee Jae-myung made his first overseas visit to attend the G7 summit, where the leaders of South Korea and Japan held bilateral talks

South Korean President Lee Jae-myeong will hold bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday (June 17) during the Group of Seven (G7) summit held in Canada.

Reuters reported that Lee Jae-myung won the South Korean presidential election on June 3rd and was sworn in recently. This visit to Canada is his first overseas trip since taking office.

In the original arrangement, Lee Jae-myung was also scheduled to meet with US President Trump. But as Trump left the summit early, the meeting between the two "became difficult". South Korea's national security advisor said that Washington has requested South Korea's understanding on this situation.

Although he failed to meet with Trump, Lee Jae-myung still actively engaged in multilateral contacts. He held talks with Australian Prime Minister Albanese and South African President Ramaphosa successively on Monday (the 16th) to promote bilateral cooperation issues.

In the economic and trade field, South Korea and the United States are conducting working-level negotiations on tariff issues, striving to reach an agreement that is crucial to South Korea's export-oriented economy. South Korea's key industries such as semiconductors, automobiles and shipbuilding are deeply dependent on the global market. Seoul is seeking to secure more favorable conditions in the current international trade environment.

As a leader who leans towards the progressive camp, Lee Jae-myung has stated that he will take "pragmatic diplomacy" as the core of foreign policy and will continue to promote the security cooperation mechanism among South Korea, the United States and Japan in the future to ensure regional stability and national interests.