Summit Diplomacy
Korea-India Summit(July 2018)

Korea-India Summit(July 2018)

President Moon Jae-in held a summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at India’s state guesthouse on July 10. The two leaders agreed to further strengthen the “special strategic partnership” that exists between the two countries.

Following the summit, the two leaders issued a joint press statement and declared the formal adoption of “A Vision for People, Prosperity, Peace and our Future,” which reaffirms the crucial partnership between Seoul and New Delhi. They also officially announced a shared vision that aims to boost bilateral trade between them to USD 50 billion by 2030.

Korea-Russia Summit (June 2018)

Korea-Russia Summit (June 2018)

President Moon Jae-in, currently on a state visit to Russia, held talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on June 22. The two rounds of talks, the first being smaller in scale and the second one being expanded, produced a joint statement with a total of 32 concrete clauses, in which a lot of mutual cooperation was focused on “co-prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and Eurasia.”

President Moon said in a subsequent press conference that, “President Putin and I have agreed to increase our dialogue and cooperation for the goal of making it happen for the peninsula and the Eurasian region as a whole, to enjoy peace and prosperity."

Korea-Philippines Summit (June 2018)

Korea-Philippines Summit (June 2018)

President Moon Jae-in hosted a summit with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, on an official visit to Korea for three days, on June 4 and reaffirmed the Philippine government’s agreement to expand bilateral exchanges and to cooperate on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

At the second summit between Korea and the Philippines, after the first in Manila in November last year, the two leaders highly appreciated what the two countries have witnessed over the past seven decades since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1949. The two countries have some 2 million tourists coming and going, and the total volume of trade last year topped USD 14.3 billion.

Korea-U.S. Summit (May 2018)

Korea-U.S. Summit (May 2018)

President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump on May 22 held a one-on-one meeting and then an expanded summit at the White House to reaffirm Seoul-Washington cooperation on dealing with issues concerning North Korea.

The two leaders also shared their thoughts that the leaders of South, North Korea and the U.S. would jointly declare an end to the war on the peninsula, as the leaders of the two Koreas did in the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration following the U.S.-North Korea summit.

Korea-Slovakia Summit (April 2018)

Korea-Slovakia Summit (April 2018)

President Moon Jae-in held a summit on April 10 with his Slovak counterpart, President Andrej Kiska, currently on an official visit to Korea. The two leaders discussed ways to further develop bilateral cooperation across a range of industries.

President Moon spoke highly of the amount of Korea-Slovakia trade, which has increased more than 160 times over the past 25 years, saying that, “The trade structure between the two countries will hopefully be improved in a mutually beneficial manner by means of diversifying the range of our traded items.”

Korea-UAE Summit (March 2018)

Korea-UAE Summit (March 2018)

President Moon Jae-in, currently on a visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), met with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on March 25. During the summit, the two leaders agreed to upgrade the Korea-UAE strategic relationship into a “special strategic partnership.”

The president and the crown prince acknowledged that the two countries have been engaged actively as strategic partners since 2009 across various areas of both the economy and industry, ever since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1980. The two leaders agreed that bilateral cooperation should be expanded into such areas as diplomacy, defense, education, medicine and energy, too.

Korea-Vietnam Summit (March 2018)

Korea-Vietnam Summit (March 2018)

President Moon Jae-in vowed to bolster the bilateral ties between Korea and Vietnam on Mar. 23.

President Moon held a summit meeting with Vietnamese President Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang in the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. He proposed to upgrade the Seoul-Hanoi ties to a “comprehensive partnership relationship” from the existing “strategic cooperation partnership relationship.”

Korea-Slovenia Summit (February 2018)

Korea-Slovenia Summit (February 2018)

President Moon Jae-in met with his Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor, on a state visit to attend the ongoing PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, in Seoul on Feb. 20. In the summit, the two leaders talked about ways to further develop bilateral cooperation on North Korean policies, trade, investment and other areas of mutual interest.

President Pahor said, “I see hope in the way in which President Moon is pursing policies to address issues without the use of force. I fully support your courage and determination to actively and consistently seek dialog with the North and encourage neighboring countries to join your peaceful approach.”

Korea-Netherlands Summit (February 2018)

Korea-Netherlands Summit (February 2018)

In the summit meeting on Feb. 9 with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte in Yongpyeong, Gangwon-do Province, President Moon asked for the Netherlands' support in order to maintain a peaceful mood after the Olympic Games so that it could bring a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issues.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, "As a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and the chair country of the U.N. Security Council, the Netherlands will not spare any support or sanctions and will help the Korean government provide as much support as possible."

Korea-Japan Summit (February 2018)

Korea-Japan Summit (February 2018)


President Moon Jae-in on Feb. 9 held a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and discussed cooperation on the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, efforts to maintain the peaceful mood on the Korean Peninsula, and bilateral cooperation.

In the summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Moon urged Japan to face its history while continuing future-forward cooperation. President Moon also proposed to the Japanese leader that they restore "shuttle diplomacy" and close communication between the heads of the state of the two countries.