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South Korean President Moon Jae-in (provided by the Blue House)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will be an observer at the G7 summit in the UK, which will begin on Friday. The meeting between the US and other advanced economies is an important one that will offer a glimpse at the future world order, including cooperation on securing a supply chain for high-tech products, responding to climate change, distributing COVID-19 vaccines, and containing China.

“President Moon will be arriving in the UK on June 11 to attend the G7 summit, which will be held in Cornwell, on the invitation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Following his three-day visit, the president will be paying state visits to Austria, on the invitation of the Austrian president, and to Spain, on the invitation of the king of Spain,” Blue House spokesperson Park Kyung-mi said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

This is South Korea’s first time attending the G7 summit. Moon was also invited last year, but that summit was called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moon will be attending expanded sessions during the summit to discuss increasing the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, strengthening cooperation on values including democracy and human rights, and taking action on climate change with the other national leaders in attendance.

“The president plans to share his experience with the Korean New Deal, which emphasizes the areas of green and digital,” said Park.

The G7 countries — the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan — were unable to hold a summit last year amid the global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus.

The UK, which is chairing this year’s summit, has invited South Korea, Australia, India, and South Africa to be observers at the summit.

Former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak was one of 16 leaders invited to an expanded meeting at G8 summits in 2008 and 2009. But this year’s invitation is different, both in format and in prestige.

“We will be participating on an equal standing with the G7 countries in discussions about guiding the international economic order. We plan to emphasize strengthening the supply chain and free trade during those discussions, which we expect will help bring about a recovery in the global economy, which has contracted because of COVID-19, and create more export opportunities for Korean companies,” a Blue House official said, conveying the significance of Moon’s presence at the summit.

Moon also plans to take advantage of the first multilateral meeting in a year and a half since the outbreak of COVID-19 to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of major countries. But it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

“For the moment, I don’t have anything to confirm about a meeting or summit between the leaders of South Korea and Japan. But we’re always open to that,” said an official from the Blue House.

The official added that there were no plans in place for a trilateral meeting between South Korea, the US, and Japan.

After the G7 meeting, Moon will be making visits to Austria and Spain.

“The president will be paying a state visit to Austria from June 13 to 15 for a summit with President Alexander Van der Bellen and a meeting with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz,” Park said.

Next year will mark the 130th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Austria, but this is the first time a South Korean president has visited the country in Central Europe.

From June Tuesday to Thursday, Moon will be visiting Spain, where he will meet with Spanish King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Last year was the 70th anniversary of formal ties between Seoul and Madrid.

Moon’s close allies Hong Young-pyo and Youn Kun-young, both lawmakers with the Democratic Party, will join him on the trip as his special attendants.

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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