European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to meet with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Monday.
The European leaders are making their first visit to the East Asian country after attending the G7 conference in Hiroshima to discuss problems such as trade deals, the Ukraine crisis, and North Korea’s forbidden weapons programs.
“The EU and South Korea are expected to express their strong joint support for upholding the rules-based international order,” the European Council said in a statement.
South Korea, the world’s ninth-largest armaments exporter, has supplied humanitarian aid to Ukraine and sold tanks and howitzers to Poland, a critical ally for Kiev as it fights Russia’s invasion.
It does, however, have a long-standing policy of avoiding supplying weapons to active conflict zones.
Yoon met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Sunday, following a meeting with Zelensky’s wife, Olena Zelenska, last week in Seoul.
According to South Korea’s presidential office, Yoon promised additional non-lethal supplies to Ukraine, including demining equipment and ambulances, at his meeting with Zelensky in Hiroshima.
Yoon’s office said the visit by EU leaders will be an “opportunity to strengthen practical cooperation in the fields of economy, health, science and technology and deepen cooperation on regional and global issues.”
