Quick summary. Between 10 and 12 June 2026, President Lee Jae-myung completed his first European tour with three pieces of state business landing in a single news cycle. On June 10 in Brussels, Korea and the EU adopted a 36-point joint statement and agreed to launch a new Korea-EU High-Level Economic Dialogue. Hours later, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy together with KOTRA hosted a European investment-notification ceremony at which four advanced European companies filed a combined USD 165 million in foreign direct investment (FDI), and the Korea-EU Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) was formally signed in the same room. On June 11 in Rome, President Lee and Italian President Sergio Mattarella elevated bilateral ties to a Special Strategic Partnership, the first such upgrade in the 142-year history of diplomatic relations, anchored in a 2026-2030 Korea-Italy Strategic Action Plan. This briefing walks international subscribers through exactly what was agreed and why it matters.
1. The Korea-EU summit and the 36-point joint statement
At the EU Council building in Brussels, President Lee met European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for an expanded Korea-EU summit. The two sides issued a 36-point joint statement covering bilateral relations, sectoral cooperation, regional security, and global governance. The most consequential single sentence reads: “We emphasize the importance of deepening bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, supply chains, digital, advanced technologies, energy and innovation — areas of strategic importance for our economies.” A second sentence formally endorses the establishment of a Korea-EU High-Level Economic Dialogue on economic security, trade, and industrial policy. Together, these two clauses move Korea into the EU’s core “economic-security partner” category.
The statement also condemns Russia’s war in Ukraine, explicitly names “third-party support, particularly from North Korea, that enables Russia’s continued aggression”, and calls “the illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea” a matter to be condemned in the strongest terms. On the Korean peninsula, both parties reaffirm a commitment to “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in line with UN Security Council resolutions” and state that “North Korea will never be recognised as a nuclear-weapon state under the NPT”. This is one of the strongest joint texts the EU has issued on Russia-DPRK cooperation to date.
2. Korea-Italy upgrade to a Special Strategic Partnership
On 11 June (local time), at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, President Lee and Italian President Sergio Mattarella elevated bilateral relations to a Special Strategic Partnership. President Lee said directly: “Today we have agreed to elevate our bilateral relationship to a Special Strategic Partnership.” The upgrade comes with a multi-year programme — the 2026-2030 Korea-Italy Strategic Action Plan — and a stack of new instruments:
- MOU on Advanced Science, Technology and ICT Cooperation — covering AI, quantum industry, 6G mobile communications, and advanced biotech.
- MOU on Cooperation in SMEs — concrete support measures for SMEs and small businesses.
- MOU on Cooperation in the Social and Solidarity Economy.
- Film Co-production Agreement.
- Korea-Italy Development Cooperation MOU — joint support for growth in Africa and the Indo-Pacific.
- Korean-language audio guide launched at Foro Romano (the first of its kind).
- MOU between the National Museum of Korea and the Uffizi Gallery (to be signed on 13 June in Florence).
- Korea-Italy Business Roundtable in Rome on 12 June with about 30 companies from both sides, focused on semiconductors, AI, defence, aerospace, energy, and bio.
President Lee underscored the trade weight involved: “Italy is Korea’s fourth-largest trading partner within the EU, and Korea is Italy’s fourth-largest trading partner in Asia.” He also flagged the existing pipeline of eight joint research areas Korea and Italy have been jointly funding from 2026 to 2028 — AI, advanced biotech, space-marine-aerospace, semiconductors, and displays — and described the new ICT MOU as the institutional base for AI, the quantum industry, 6G, and advanced biotech at the national strategic-technology layer.
3. USD 165 million in European FDI: the four companies
In Brussels on 10 June, Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Kim Jung-kwan and KOTRA hosted a European investment-notification ceremony where four advanced European companies filed a combined USD 165 million in foreign direct investment. The portfolio is deliberately diversified across the advanced-industry stack:
- Orafol (Germany) — advanced materials. Will expand the Korean plant of “Company A”, the reflective-film maker Orafol acquired last year. The combined operation will use Orafol’s technology and Company A’s exports to 80+ countries as an Asia-Pacific reflective-film export hub.
- Quandela (France) — leading photonic quantum-computing firm. Will expand R&D with Korean industry-academia-research partners and position Korea as an R&D and manufacturing hub to accelerate the diffusion of quantum-computing technology.
- Prodrive Technologies (Netherlands) — establishing its first Korean entity to import and distribute equipment modules for semiconductor and other advanced-industry tools. Manufacturing and an R&D centre are under consideration if the business case develops.
- Mycronic (Sweden) — specialist in electronic-component and display equipment, particularly laser systems for display and semiconductor photomask manufacturing. Korea will become a research base for accelerating innovation in display and semiconductor tooling.
The mix matters as much as the headline number. By spreading filings across advanced materials, photonic quantum computing, semiconductor equipment, and display photomask laser tools, the EU is signalling that Korea is no longer treated as a single-vertical destination, but as a multi-layer node in Europe’s strategic-industry supply chain.
At the accompanying roundtable, KOTRA President Kang Kyung-sung, European Chamber of Commerce Korea Chair Philippe Van Hoof, and six European firms and research institutes active in semiconductors, materials, parts and equipment, and quantum computing agreed on a common diagnosis: “In an environment marked by geopolitical conflict, protectionism, and rapid technological change, no single country can respond alone — investment cooperation between trustworthy partners is more critical than ever.” Minister Kim Jung-kwan committed to expanding incentives for foreign investors and improving the regulatory environment, and pledged active support for resolving on-the-ground difficulties.
4. Korea-EU Digital Trade Agreement (DTA): signed in the same room
In the same Brussels session, Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič formally signed the Korea-EU Digital Trade Agreement (DTA). MOTIE materials position the DTA as part of the broader “acceleration of the Korea-EU digital economic alliance”. While the full text covers cross-border data flows, electronic commerce, digital authentication, consumer protection, and digital trade barriers, the strategic significance is that Korea is now the first major Asian partner to formalise a digital-trade alignment track with the EU on the same day a European supply-chain FDI package lands. The DTA is the institutional plumbing under the FDI announcement.
5. International context and what to watch next
The Brussels-Rome leg is part of a broader 10-day tour that includes the upcoming G7-related leaders’ diplomacy in Évian, France, and an energy-security exchange with Saudi Aramco. International subscribers should track three follow-on items: (i) the formal launch and first session of the Korea-EU High-Level Economic Dialogue, including its agenda mix between economic security and industrial policy; (ii) any further filings beyond the initial four companies under the new Korea-EU Competitiveness Partnership umbrella; and (iii) the operational rollout of the 2026-2030 Korea-Italy Strategic Action Plan, especially in the AI, quantum, 6G, and advanced biotech areas explicitly named in the MOU.
Bottom line. Korea has, in a single 72-hour window, (a) been upgraded by Italy to a Special Strategic Partner for the first time in 142 years, (b) been re-categorised by the EU as an economic-security partner via the 36-point joint statement and a new High-Level Economic Dialogue, (c) received USD 165 million of advanced-industry FDI from four European firms across four distinct technology lines, and (d) signed a digital trade agreement that institutionalises Korea-EU data and platform interoperability. The European leg of President Lee’s tour is the clearest evidence so far that Korea is moving from a “manufacturing destination” to a “strategic-industry R&D node” inside the EU’s industrial supply-chain map.
Sources (Korean government RSS)
- Korea-Italy upgraded to Special Strategic Partnership — korea.kr policy news 148966372
- Korea-EU 36-point joint statement, High-Level Economic Dialogue — korea.kr policy news 148966319
- Four European advanced firms file USD 165M FDI; Korea-EU DTA signed — korea.kr policy news 148966325