Arrives at Seoul Airport on Sunday evening
President Lee Jae Myung returned home Sunday after a seven-day, five-night trip to the United States and Mexico, during which he attended the UN General Assembly and made the first state visit to Mexico by a South Korean president in 16 years.
Air Force One carrying Lee landed at Seoul Airport in Seongnam on Sunday evening.
Lee, who gave up the Chuseok holiday to pursue multilateral diplomacy, used his address to the UN General Assembly to lay out a vision for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
A highlight of the trip was his third summit with US President Donald Trump, at which the two leaders reaffirmed discussions on a major South Korean investment project in the United States that has been effectively finalized, and addressed key security issues on the Korean Peninsula. The two sides also exchanged more concrete details about a planned golf meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit scheduled for December.
In Mexico, Lee held separate talks on trade and investment as well as cooperation in advanced industries, broadening South Korea's economic diplomacy in Latin America.
Korean Peninsula peace vision at UN; follow-up talks with Trump on nuclear subs, operational control
On the second day of his trip, Lee addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, calling for the swift resumption of North Korea-US dialogue and urging talks among the parties involved to end the war on the Korean Peninsula and transition to a peace regime.
He put forward a phased denuclearization plan — "halt, reduce, eliminate" — targeting North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities, and said South Korea would pursue inclusive, stable and responsible peaceful coexistence.
The address marked the second consecutive year Lee has presented a blueprint for Korean Peninsula peace at the UN General Assembly, following last year's unveiling of the "E.N.D. Initiative" as a framework for ending the Cold War on the peninsula.
During the trip, Lee also gave an interview to The New York Times in which he proposed a bold initiative to exchange sanctions relief for a freeze on North Korea's development of additional nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
On the prospects for peace on the Korean Peninsula, Lee said it is "a task that South and North Korea, as well as the United States, China and other relevant countries, have long recognized the need for and have been discussing," emphasizing the roles of all four parties.
At his third summit with Trump the same day, the two leaders welcomed progress in investment negotiations and agreed to continue follow-up consultations on security and economic issues, including nuclear submarine fuel, uranium enrichment and reprocessing, shipbuilding cooperation, and the transfer of wartime operational control.
Notably, Trump did not raise the issue of South Korea's "contribution" to freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz — a point Seoul had been concerned about — which was seen as a relief.
The two sides held extensive discussions on the US investment deal, understood to have been agreed upon just before the trip, and made concrete progress, including an agreement to hold follow-up consultations in Washington in the near future on matters such as nuclear submarines.
In the course of those talks, the possibility of the planned golf meeting on the sidelines of the December G20 summit also appeared to be taking shape.
With progress on the US investment negotiations as a foundation, security and industrial consultations between Seoul and Washington that had previously stalled appear to be gaining fresh momentum.
'Crisis is opportunity': Lee pushes trade deal, AI and defense cooperation with Mexico
In Mexico City, Lee held a summit with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and adopted the "2026–2030 Korea-Mexico Joint Action Plan."
Lee stressed the importance of concluding a trade agreement to expand bilateral trade and investment, and the two sides agreed to pursue a joint study between their respective trade authorities.
They also agreed to expand cooperation in advanced sectors including AI and digital technology, aerospace and defense, and to explore the possibility of local production of South Korean defense technology and joint entry into third-country markets as Mexico modernizes its military.
The two countries also launched an inter-ministerial dialogue channel for cooperation on crude oil and critical resource supply chains, and agreed to strengthen cooperation on transnational crime as well as in agriculture, fisheries and livestock. In the cultural sphere, they agreed to establish a working group this year to develop K-culture-related facilities in Mexico and co-produce content.
Lee also said he would actively work to hear and resolve the difficulties faced by South Korean businesses operating in Mexico.
At the Korea-Mexico Business Forum on Saturday, Lee said the uncertainty in the North American trade environment, including the USMCA, "is a clear challenge," but added that "if companies from both countries join hands and pool their strength, it becomes a golden opportunity to capture the global market."
The USMCA, the free trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada, grants preferential tariffs within the bloc to products that meet a certain threshold of North American content.
Uncertainty in the North American market has grown after the United States declined to agree to an extension of the current agreement at a joint USMCA review held in July, raising the possibility of changes to key trade rules covering automotive rules of origin, steel and aluminum, and economic security.
In response, Lee said, "Crisis is opportunity," adding that he hoped "to organically combine and strengthen Mexico's excellent manufacturing base and local parts ecosystem with South Korea's advanced technological competitiveness, so that companies from both countries can expand together beyond North America into global markets."
Lee promotes K-culture in Mexico, attends K-Expo
In Mexico, where K-culture has been sweeping in popularity, Lee devoted considerable effort to promoting South Korean content.
Lee and his wife Kim Hye-kyung visited the K-Expo underway in Mexico City, touring product exhibitions by South Korean companies operating in the country.
During the visit, Lee stopped by a K-food booth and sampled "Han River ramyun," which has been gaining popularity recently.
That evening, Lee attended a performance by the group Stray Kids and greeted the audience, saying, "Thank you for loving K-pop."
sang@heraldcorp.com
