S. Korea's Lee arrives in Turkiye for summit talks on defense, nuclear energy cooperation

Lee flew to Turkiye from South Africa after wrapping up his visit to Johannesburg for the Group of 20 (G20) summit, marking the final stop of his four-nation Middle East and Africa tour.

On the first day of his visit, Lee is scheduled to hold summit talks with Erdogan to discuss ways to expand economic cooperation, particularly in the defense and nuclear energy industries.

Defense collaboration has been a cornerstone of bilateral ties, with Turkiye operating its own variant of South Korea's K9 self-propelled howitzer and partnering with Korean defense contractor Hyundai Rotem on the development of the Altay main battle tank program.

Nuclear energy is also expected to be a major agenda item, as South Korea has expressed interest in Turkiye's plan to build its second nuclear power plant in Sinop on the Black Sea coast.

Their meeting will be the second this week, as Lee and Erdogan met on the sidelines of the G20 summit for a gathering of MIKTA, a group of five middle-power nations, including Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkiye and Australia.

Before the summit, Lee plans to visit the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father and first president of Turkiye.

On Tuesday, Lee will lay a wreath at the cemetery for Korean War veterans and meet with members of the Korean community in Turkiye.

Turkey sent the fourth-largest number of troops to the 1950-53 Korean War as part of the U.N. forces, contributing more than 21,000 personnel.

Lee is scheduled to return home Wednesday, concluding his 10-day trip that also included visits to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.