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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a summit held at a hotel in Madrid, Spain, on June 29.

There have been several disruptions to the itinerary of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is in Madrid, Spain, for the NATO summit. A summit with the leader of Finland scheduled for June 28 was canceled, and a meeting with the NATO secretary general was delayed as well.

Yoon had been planning to meet with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on Tuesday afternoon, but their summit was canceled right beforehand. A meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg scheduled for the same day was postponed as well.

The South Korean presidential office explained the changes in schedule as due to the four-party meeting between Finland, Sweden, Turkey and the NATO secretary general, which preceded Yoon’s meetings, running longer than expected. Yoon’s meetings were among a number that were called off, including those scheduled between the leaders of Australia and New Zealand and the NATO secretary general.

The four-party meeting had been organized to mediate Turkey’s opposition to Sweden and Finland’s membership applications to NATO. That discussion, which lasted longer than planned, concluded with Turkey consenting to the other two countries’ admission into the alliance.

Under NATO rules, new members may only be admitted with the unanimous approval of all current members.

As the four-party meeting went beyond its appointed time, Yoon reportedly waited at the location for the summit for about 30 minutes before departing.

“For Stoltenberg, Sweden’s and Finland’s membership would have been much more urgent than his meeting with President Yoon,” explained a senior official from the presidential office.

Yoon and Stoltenberg rescheduled their meeting for 3 pm on Thursday. According to the presidential office, the secretary general was profuse in his apologies for the delay.

But the summit with Niinistö, the Finnish president, was ultimately called off. The presidential office said the summit couldn’t be rescheduled because of conflicts with Niinistö’s itinerary.

“It would have been nice if everything had gone according to plan, but considering how fluid the schedule is on the ground, this shouldn’t be regarded as being due to diplomatic problems,” said a senior official at the presidential office, responding to a reporter who asked whether there had been any diplomatic or protocol mishaps during Yoon’s trip.

Yoon kicked off his official schedule on Tuesday with a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, instead of with the Finnish president, and continued with bilateral summits with the Netherlands and Poland on Wednesday.

Yoon also took part in a four-party summit for countries in the Asia-Pacific: Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter; Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

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