{"id":1155,"date":"2026-04-13T06:27:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/1155\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T06:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:27:18","slug":"president-lee-poland-agree-to-upgrade-ties-to-comprehensive-strategic-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/1155\/","title":{"rendered":"President Lee, Poland Agree to Upgrade Ties to &#8216;Comprehensive Strategic Partnership&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"null - Seoul Economic Daily Politics News from South Korea\" title=\"President Lee, Poland Agree to Upgrade Ties to 'Comprehensive Strategic Partnership'\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full h-auto rounded-sm\" style=\"color:transparent;object-fit:contain;object-position:center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rcv.YNA.20260413.PYH2026041308530001300_P1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">President Lee Jae-myung held a summit with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who made an official visit to Korea on Tuesday, and the two leaders agreed to upgrade bilateral relations to a &#8220;comprehensive strategic partnership&#8221; for the first time in 13 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;I find it very meaningful that we have decided to elevate our bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership on the occasion of Prime Minister Tusk&#8217;s visit,&#8221; President Lee said in his opening remarks at the expanded Korea-Poland summit held at Cheong Wa Dae.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;I hope we can have candid discussions on ways to cooperate in future-oriented areas such as battery infrastructure, science and technology, and space to develop our bilateral relationship in a more comprehensive and strategic manner,&#8221; Lee added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;Even amid ongoing geopolitical crises, our defense cooperation has grown stronger, as evidenced by the comprehensive contract worth $44.2 billion signed in 2022,&#8221; the president said. &#8220;K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, FA-50 light combat aircraft, and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers\u2014weapons embodying Korea&#8217;s technology and pride\u2014are majestically traversing Poland&#8217;s green fields, protecting Polish territory and citizens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">Lee emphasized that &#8220;defense cooperation between our two countries goes beyond simple weapons sales&#8221; and that &#8220;it is even more meaningful in that we are contributing to the development of Poland&#8217;s defense ecosystem through mutually beneficial cooperation including joint production, technology transfer, and training within Poland.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;Korea is a country with world-class competitiveness across various industrial sectors, and Poland is also a strong nation with geographical advantages, excellent workforce, and solid basic science and technology capabilities,&#8221; Lee said. &#8220;I am confident that if the strengths of both countries create synergy in a mutually beneficial way, new horizons for bilateral cooperation will open.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">The president also mentioned Lech Walesa, the founder of Poland&#8217;s Solidarity movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is a political ally of Prime Minister Tusk. &#8220;When Korea was fighting for democratization in the 1980s, Poland&#8217;s Solidarity and Lech Walesa were like an impressive beacon of hope,&#8221; Lee said. &#8220;I hope that Poland and Korea will develop further through the power of democracy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">In response, Prime Minister Tusk told President Lee, &#8220;This is our first official meeting, but it feels like we have known each other for a long time. I think we can understand each other in many areas because we have lived similar lives and share similar values.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;Like you, Mr. President, I also worked as a laborer at a young age, and I want to express my gratitude for the exemplary leadership you have shown during what could be seen as a difficult time for Korea,&#8221; Tusk said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">&#8220;Our comprehensive relationship extends beyond the defense industry\u2014for example, I can mention the food sector,&#8221; Tusk said. &#8220;You have shown that certain issues can be resolved immediately, and you told me that the beef export issue would be addressed right away. I believe this has given hope and positive signals to many Polish citizens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-[var(--color-text)] leading-relaxed\">This was the first meeting between President Lee and Prime Minister Tusk. Tusk&#8217;s visit marks the first bilateral visit by a Polish prime minister in 27 years and his first bilateral visit to a non-European country since taking office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Lee Jae-myung held a summit with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who made an official visit to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[88,1046,89,64,1051,1049,1050,1045,86],"class_list":{"0":"post-1155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-donald-tusk","8":"tag-bilateral-relations","9":"tag-comprehensive-strategic-partnership","10":"tag-defense-cooperation","11":"tag-donald-tusk","12":"tag-fa-50","13":"tag-k2-tank","14":"tag-k9-howitzer","15":"tag-korea-poland-summit","16":"tag-lee-jae-myung"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}