President to hold summits with Indonesian, French leaders in Seoul

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a town hall meeting with Jeju residents at Cheju Halla University on Jeju Island, Monday. Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung will meet the leaders of Indonesia and France this week to discuss bilateral topics as well as global issues ranging from defense and artificial intelligence development to supply chains and tensions in the Middle East.

Cheong Wa Dae said Monday that Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will visit Seoul from Tuesday to Thursday, followed by French President Emmanuel Macron from Thursday to Friday. Both will be on state visits.

Lee’s bilateral summit with Subianto is expected to focus on defense cooperation, particularly on the KF-21, Korea’s first domestically developed fighter jet, which began mass production last Wednesday.

Indonesia is expected to be the KF-21’s first export destination, with reports saying the country is likely to purchase 16 jets.

Lee previously met Subianto at last year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, where the two discussed a special strategic partnership focusing on defense, trade, infrastructure and people-to-people exchanges.

“This week’s meeting is expected to further accelerate the Seoul-Jakarta partnership, with Indonesia poised to become the first export customer of the KF-21,” said Choe Won-gi, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and a seasoned expert on ASEAN affairs.

Seoul and Jakarta initially formed a partnership to develop the fighter jet in 2015, with Jakarta agreeing to fund around 20 percent of the project in exchange for technology transfer. But payments were repeatedly delayed, and the two sides later agreed to reduce Indonesia’s contribution to one-third of the initial amount and lower the level of technology transfer.

Meanwhile, Macron will travel to Korea for the first time since taking office in 2017, making him the first French head of state to visit Korea in 11 years.

During their summit, Lee and Macron are likely to mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, covering cooperation in nuclear power, technology and the space industry, as well as the stabilization of international shipping routes and supply chain resilience.

With France serving as the G7 chair this year, ongoing preparations and multilateral diplomacy are also likely to be addressed. France recently invited Korea for this year’s G7 summit, slated for June 15 to 17.

In addition to bilateral issues, Lee’s talks with both heads of state are projected to cover shared global concerns about rising tensions in the Middle East, energy security and the need for balanced diplomacy amid the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

“Each summit may begin with bilateral issues and then move on to sensitive global matters, most notably the Middle East conflict, providing an opportunity to hear how countries from different parts of the world are addressing them,” Choe said.

Kim Soo-dong, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade, voiced a similar view.

“Almost no country can be free from the impact of the Iran crisis, as it can ultimately affect inflation and a global economic slowdown due to volatility in oil prices,” he said. “Bilateral and multilateral cooperation therefore will be crucial as the war escalates and possibly triggers severe economic downturns across the world.”