NATO summit a springboard for South Korea to diversify military ties
Seoul’s participation reflects emerging threats it shares with Transatlantic alliance, as Beijing watches with suspicion
Yoon Suk-yeol departed for Madrid on Monday to attend the upcoming NATO summit, making him the first South Korean president to do so. While not a member of the military alliance, South Korea is participating in the summit as a partner country along with Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The South Korean leader also has a full slate of meetings scheduled with European heads of state during the summit, including the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada. A bilateral summit with Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida appears unlikely, but the two will join a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, the first such meeting since 2017.
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