South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will leave on Monday for a four-day trip to regional summits in Manila and Shenzhen. The focus will be on disruptions to energy supplies, food security and transnational crime. Seoul wants to help shape the discussions on these shared challenges and to highlight Korea's contribution to regional cooperation, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said.

In Manila, Lee will take part in the South Korea-ASEAN summit, the South Korea-Mekong summit and the ASEAN Plus Three summit, among others, and, for the first time since taking office, the East Asia Summit. He will then travel on to the APEC summit in Shenzhen. There, Seoul intends to call for cooperation on shocks to energy supply chains originating in the Middle East and for the restoration of the multilateral trading order. It also wants AI cooperation established as a core theme.

Lee also wants to secure support for his policy of peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula. A senior official at the presidential office played down expectations of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the sidelines of the summits. Seoul is, however, closely watching whether a three-way summit between Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place.

Key points:

• President Lee Jae Myung will stress at two major regional summits next week that closer regional cooperation is needed to deal with disruptions to energy supplies.
• Lee will embark on a four-day trip starting on Monday.
• Lee will attend several summits with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila, the Philippines, before travelling on to the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China.

Source: The Korea Herald (English)