South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung will attend the NATO summit in Türkiye next week, his adviser said on Friday.
Lee will travel to Ankara to attend the NATO leaders' summit from Tuesday to Wednesday, national security adviser Wi Sung-lac told reporters, Yonhap News reported.
The July 7-8 summit will bring together heads of state and government from NATO's 32 member states, as well as key partners. It will be the 36th NATO summit and the second hosted by Türkiye, following the 2004 summit in Istanbul.
Wi said the South Korean president will attend the NATO summit, and also deliver a keynote speech, at the invitation of alliance's Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Lee will also participate in a defense industry forum as Türkiye's Defense Industries Secretariat will host a high-level reception at facilities of Turkish Aerospace Industries as part of the NATO meeting.
The president's participation "will be part of South Korea's efforts to expand defense industry cooperation with NATO allies," the adviser added.
On the sidelines of the summit, Lee will hold meeting with Rutte and also attend a joint meeting of NATO's three other partners from the Asia-Pacific: Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi also confirmed on Friday he will attend the NATO summit, Kyodo News reported.
He would be the first Japanese defense chief to participate in such a gathering, and Koizumi said Rutte, for the first time, had invited the defense ministers of the four Asia-Pacific partners to related events of the summit.
The NATO first invited leaders of these four nations in 2022 for the summit in Spain's capital Madrid.
Türkiye's National Defense Ministry said the upcoming NATO summit will mark a "significant turning point," reaffirming the alliance's unwavering commitment to collective defense and highlighting Ankara's strategic role within NATO.
