- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits South Korea and meets with President Yoon Suk Yeol
- The two world leaders are set to discuss various topics, including trade relations and the North Korea threat
- Trudeau is the first Canadian leader to visit South Korea in the last nine years
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits South Korea and meets with President Yoon Suk Yeol to discuss various issues, including trade relations between the two countries and the continuous North Korea threat.
Trudeau is the first Canadian leader to visit South Korea in the last nine years and was set to meet with the South Korean president on Wednesday, a few hours after giving a speech at the National Assembly located in Seoul.
Canada and South Korea Relations
The office of the South Korean president said that the two leaders will discuss North Korea's poor human rights record. They are also expected to discuss cooperation over security and "critical minerals," as per ABC News.
The critical minerals authorities mentioned most likely referenced Canadian materials that South Korean companies used to manufacture electric car batteries or semiconductors. These are two major products in the Asian country's export-driven economy.
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Minister for Trade Ahn Duk-Geun met on Tuesday with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne. The officials discussed various topics, such as economic security.
The South Korean president has long been trying to increase international pressure on North Korea, which has continued to expand its nuclear capabilities. Yoon has also tried to bolster Seoul's voice in supply chain issues.
The two world leaders are set to travel later this week and head to Japan to attend the summit of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations. That would be where North Korea's nuclear threat is believed to be the center of attention alongside Russia's invasion of Ukraine and China's rising assertiveness in its foreign policy, according to the Associated Press.
Addressing Global Issues
A South Korean government official said that Trudeau and Yoon are expected to sign an agreement regarding key mineral supply chains, clean energy conversion, and energy security cooperation.
The meeting comes with Canada trying to bolster its EV production using mineral reserves such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. These three resources are used to make batteries for such products.
During their meeting in September last year, Trudeau and Yoon agreed to deepen their countries' cooperation on mineral supply chains. Their conversation and agreement were parts of efforts to cut down emissions to address the climate change issue.
Furthermore, Canada and South Korea have tried to deepen cooperation regarding intelligence sharing while navigating a rising rivalry between the United States and China. Ottawa's diplomatic relations with Beijing have run high since the detention of Meng Wanzhou, an executive of Huawei Technologies, in 2018.
Additionally, Beijing arrested two Canadians over spying charges. Most recently, last week, Beijing announced that it was expelling a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai in response to Ottawa's decision to expel a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, said Reuters.
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