President Lee Jae-myung Meets NATO Chief in Turkey, Proposes 'Korea-NATO Defense Cooperation 2.0'

President Lee Jae-myung held a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday (local time). President Lee subsequently attended a small-group meeting with Indo-Pacific partner nations (IP4).

The meeting, a high-level consultative body launched at last year's Hague summit, reflects a commitment to strengthening security cooperation between NATO and Indo-Pacific nations. Through the direct talks with Secretary-General Rutte and participation in the multilateral forum, President Lee focused on exploring substantive measures for cooperation with NATO.

How far can defense industry cooperation go? Earlier, during a keynote speech at Session 4 of the NATO Defense Forum, President Lee proposed elevating the Korea-NATO defense industry partnership to '2.0'.