KB News Desk
President Lee Jae Myung is set to meet Argentine President Javier Milei on Friday to forge a supply-chain partnership on critical minerals and seek fresh momentum for stalled South Korea-Mercosur trade negotiations.
Lee arrived in Buenos Aires late Thursday for a three-day official visit to Argentina, the first by a South Korean president in 22 years. Then-President Roh Moo-hyun made the last visit in November 2004.
“Through his official visit, President Lee is expected to take cooperation with Argentina — which possesses all the key elements of economic security, including critical minerals, energy and food — to a new level,” senior presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a statement Thursday.
Argentina is particularly important to Seoul’s efforts to diversify its critical mineral supply chains.
The country holds the world’s fourth-largest lithium reserves, a mineral vital to the green energy transition and widely used in products ranging from smartphones and electric vehicles to energy storage systems, aerospace components and defense equipment.
“On the occasion of this presidential visit, the two countries plan to establish a supply-chain cooperation framework for lithium and other critical minerals,” Kang said.
A trade agreement between South Korea and the South American trade bloc Mercosur — comprising Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay — will be one of the top agenda items during the summit between Lee and Milei.
“Argentina, along with Brazil, is a key member of Mercosur and an important country in securing its cooperation for the expeditious resumption of negotiations on a Korea-Mercosur trade agreement,” Kang said. “The summit will also address the resumption of negotiations on a Korea-Mercosur trade agreement.”
Negotiations between South Korea and Mercosur’s four founding members — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — have been stalled since 2021.
During his summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday, Lee agreed to establish a working group to assess trade opportunities and sensitive sectors in an effort to restart the stalled negotiations. Lee and Lula aim to announce their resumption at the 69th Mercosur Summit in December.
Lee and Milei are also expected to expand practical cooperation in defense, science and technology, Antarctica, culture and education that “delivers tangible benefits to their citizens and businesses,” Kang said.
Kang further explained that the two sides plan to fully reactivate high-level exchanges and intergovernmental consultative bodies to support those efforts.
Later Friday, Lee is scheduled to meet Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri and ask the city government to give greater attention and support to the Korean Argentine community, which numbers about 23,000 and is the second-largest in South America, according to Kang.
Lee underscored the significance of his visit to Argentina, the first by a South Korean president in 22 years, in a post on X on Thursday as he departed Santiago, Chile, for Buenos Aires.
Lee said his visit would “reaffirm the potential of both countries and pool our wisdom to deliver tangible results that our people and businesses can feel.”
“We also plan to open new avenues for future-oriented cooperation, not only in areas of economic security such as critical minerals, energy and food security, but also in culture, science and technology, and aerospace.”
Lee further expressed optimism about bilateral cooperation, invoking Posco Holdings’ Sal de Oro project, a lithium extraction and processing venture in Argentina.
“The lithium development project being undertaken by a Korean company here in Argentina is named Sal de Oro, meaning ‘Salt of Gold,’” Lee said.
“I hope this summit will likewise help cooperation between our two countries bear fruit as precious and radiant as gold.”
Argentina is the final stop on Lee’s Latin America tour, following visits to Brazil from Sunday through Wednesday and Chile from Wednesday through Thursday. Lee is scheduled to return to Seoul on Monday after a brief stopover in Frankfurt, Germany.
