![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260728_01110106000001_L00.jpg\")
\uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 President Lee Jae Myung, who is on a state visit to Brazil, is presiding over a video assistant meeting at a hotel in Brasilia on the 26th (local time). Yonhap News Agency
\nPresident Lee Jae Myung, who is on a state visit to Brazil, said on the 27th (local time) that he will do his best to complete the agreement as soon as possible that will benefit both sides.<\/p>\n
President Lee expressed his views on the Korea-Mercosur FTA in a written interview with Brazilian media “Uglobo,” which was released on the same day. “As trade agreements contain sensitive issues, such as market access, we should produce mutually beneficial and balanced results rather than predicting the timing of a settlement,” President Lee said.\n<\/p>\n
Mercosur (South American Common Market) is an economic community made up of four countries: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with an estimate of $3 trillion (about 4,400 trillion won) in gross domestic product (GDP). In South America, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, and Suriname are also participating as associate members. South Korea has been negotiating with Mercosur since 2018, but discussions have stopped after the seventh round in 2021.\n<\/p>\n
Accordingly, the government is reportedly planning to discuss ways to resume negotiations on the Korea-Mercosur FTA at the summit with Brazil and Argentina.\n<\/p>\n
President Lee also said he would protect the value of free trade with Brazil. President Lee said, “The World Trade Organization (WTO) has not adequately responded to the changing trade environment,” but added, “If the two countries cooperate, they will be able to further strengthen the multilateral cooperation system and contribute to creating a more open, stable and predictable international trade order.”\n<\/p>\n
He also emphasized that self-defense is the foundation of foreign and security policy. President Lee said, “The Republic of Korea has steadily strengthened its ability to take responsibility for security through self-reliance despite the shaky international order,” adding, “We will continue to overcome the global complex crisis with Brazil and the international community based on diplomacy in which self-reliance, alliance, and solidarity are in a virtuous cycle.”\n<\/p>\n
In South America, he will also engage in K-culture sales diplomacy. President Lee emphasized, “The promotion of K-culture is an investment in the future of Korea beyond the growth of the cultural industry,” adding, “It will be a sustainable competitiveness to grow with the world.” Meanwhile, President Lee arrived in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, on the 26th and started a four-day state visit. The goal is to strengthen cooperation in defense and core mineral supply chains at a summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula D’Arcouba, who has shown off extraordinary intimacy as a common denominator as a junior president.\n<\/p>\n
Upon arriving at the Brasilia Air Base, President Lee inspected the C-390 transport aircraft that the South Korean military is scheduled to take over as soon as the welcoming ceremony was over. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration has decided to introduce three C-390 transport aircraft developed by Brazil’s Embraer in the large transport aircraft business, which President Lee himself looked at the first plane to be delivered in December.\n<\/p>\n
The summit is expected to discuss ways to strengthen rare earth supply chains, which are key materials for semiconductors and secondary batteries, as well as cooperation in manufacturing fighter jets and commercial airplanes. Wi Sung-rak, head of the Blue House National Security Office, previously explained, “Brazil’s rare earth reserves are second in the world.”\n<\/p>\n
President Lee presided over a meeting of his senior aides by video late at night. President Lee said, “For sustainable economic development, the government should make efforts to spread the warmth of growth,” adding, “We hope that the oil price system will continue until oil price instability is definitely resolved and that measures such as oil tax reduction will be maintained as much as possible.” President Lee also received a report from the Security Office on the eradication of Chinese fishing boats that were engaged in illegal fishing near the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea, and asked them to thoroughly deal with illegal fishing in the future. In addition, he urged the Office of the Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs to make every effort to prepare for the opening of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency and stressed, “In public society, it is important to follow the principle of public corporation division and \u79c1 first.”\n<\/p>\n
[Brazilian reporter Oh Soo-hyun \/ Seoul reporter Sung Seung-hoon]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 President Lee Jae Myung, who is on a state visit to Brazil, is presiding over a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[19434,51890,51887,51892,51888,33411,51891,31,146,51201,32470,51889,30471,33,25561,9680,6371],"class_list":["post-100294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-argentina","tag-big-repayment","tag-brasilia","tag-common-denominator","tag-core-minerals","tag-embraer","tag-highest-price-system","tag-korea","tag-lee-jae-myung","tag-mercosur","tag-paraguay","tag-president-li","tag-south-america","tag-south-korea","tag-state-visit","tag-summit","tag-trade-agreements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}