President Lee Jae Myung departed Sunday for a four-day visit to France, a trip that will include a summit meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron focused on strengthening cooperation in security, the economy and other areas.

The visit follows Macron's trip to South Korea in April and comes as the two countries mark the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year. France and South Korea established diplomatic ties in 1886, making France one of the first Western powers to open formal relations with Korea.

Lee will first travel to Nice to attend the Lumiere Summit on the future of cinema, held in nearby Saint-Paul-de-Vence, before beginning a two-day state visit to Paris from Tuesday. The cinema summit stop underscores the cultural dimension of the relationship, an area both governments have sought to deepen alongside economic and security ties.

In the French capital, Lee will hold a one-on-one luncheon with Macron, followed by a summit and a dinner banquet hosted by the French president and his wife, Brigitte Macron, at the Elysee Palace.

Lee is also scheduled to attend a business roundtable in Paris involving 20 companies from both countries. The business forum signals an effort to translate the diplomatic partnership into concrete commercial cooperation, with France a major European player in sectors where South Korean firms are also active.

The trip is expected to flesh out the "global strategic partnership" forged between the two countries during Macron's April visit to South Korea, which seeks to enhance bilateral cooperation in major sectors such as security, the economy and people-to-people exchanges, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said earlier.

The upcoming Lee-Macron summit may also include discussions on cooperation in nuclear power plants and troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, a presidential official has noted. Nuclear cooperation is a notable agenda item, as South Korea and France are both major exporters of nuclear power technology and have previously discussed collaboration in overseas reactor projects. The Strait of Hormuz discussion also reflects South Korea's stake in Gulf shipping lanes through which much of its energy imports pass.

The outcomes of the Paris summit are expected to indicate how quickly the two countries can move from partnership declarations to specific agreements in these sectors.

(Source: The Korea Times)