President Lee Jae-myung and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith shook hands before their summit at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the 15th. The two leaders agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and to establish a hotline and sign a police cooperation MOU to protect their citizens.
Presidential Office Spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung stated on the 15th that President Lee held a summit with President Thongloun, who is on an official visit to South Korea, to discuss ways to develop Korea-Laos relations and major regional and international issues. The leaders agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and to expand cooperation in broader and future-oriented fields such as infrastructure, key minerals, and climate change response.
The leaders also signed the ‘Korea-Laos Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and Extradition Treaty’ to combat transnational crimes such as online scams. An MOU on the dispatch of labor under the Employment Permit System was also renewed. Additionally, they agreed to establish a hotline between the South Korean Embassy in Laos and the Lao Ministry of Public Security to protect their citizens, and to promptly sign the ‘Police Cooperation MOU’ currently under discussion.
President Lee expressed his hope that South Korean companies could participate in the Luang Prabang International Airport development project being pursued by Laos. He also anticipated that mutually beneficial projects such as the establishment of supply chains for key minerals, including rare earth elements, based on Laos’s abundant natural resources and Korean technology, would be actively promoted. The leaders also promised close cooperation on regional and international issues, including the Korean Peninsula issue and Korea-ASEAN relations.