SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol heads to Britain on Monday for a state visit, hoping to boost economic ties and enhance security partnerships as his country faces what it sees as growing danger from a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Yoon’s four-day trip will be the first state visit hosted by Britain since the coronation of King Charles, and comes as North Korea appears to be making final preparations for another attempt at launching its first spy satellite.
In an interview with the Telegraph newspaper, Yoon said the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza, coupled with growing Russia-North Korea ties and tension in the South China Sea, had compelled him to seek “very close security cooperation” with the West.
The president will be met with plenty of pomp and ceremony. Yoon will receive a guard of honour and ride in a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace, the palace said.
He will hold talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday, and adopt an accord on expanding a bilateral partnership.
Yoon has expressed hope for deeper cooperation with Britain on an “array of geopolitical risks” including supply chains and energy security, the Telegraph said.
“The two countries have more room to cooperate on the economic front,” Yoon’s spokesperson, Lee Do-woon, said. Bilateral trade was worth $12.1 billion last year, fifth among European countries, he said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing that South Korea had no “need to join the fray”, when asked about Yoon’s comment on the South China Sea.
“China is fully aware of its responsibilities and interests, we don’t need anyone to dictate what we do or don’t do,” she said. “Regarding the South China Sea issue, China and ASEAN countries have the ability, confidence, and wisdom to handle this issue well.
China claims virtually all of the South China Sea. Several Southeast Asian countries, members of the ASEAN bloc, have overlapping claims to parts of it.
Yoon, in the interview with the British newspaper, stressed the importance of a “rules-based maritime order” in the South China Sea as well as “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.
Yoon’s visit comes after his return from an APEC summit in San Francisco, where he called for a coordinated response to growing military ties between North Korea and Russia.
North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since 2006.
It has tested numerous missiles over the past year and has vowed to launch a satellite. The United States, South Korea and Japan have condemned the space launch as a provocation and violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning its ballistic missile technology.
From Britain, Yoon will head to France for a visit aimed at bolstering support for South Korea’s hosting the 2030 World Expo, his office said.
The expo host is expected to be decided this month by a vote of member states of the International Bureau of Expositions, the expo organising body. Its headquarters is in Paris.
(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi in Seoul and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Ed Davies and Gerry Doyle)
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