S. Korea, EU condemn Russia-North Korea military cooperation in joint summit statement

President Lee Jae Myung met with EU leaders in Brussels on Wednesday, the second day of his European trip for the G7 summit, strongly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and North Korea's support for Moscow and calling for an immediate halt to what he described as illegal military cooperation between the two countries.

Lee held talks with EU Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels and adopted a joint statement following the summit.

The leaders held in-depth discussions on major regional and global issues, including the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East, and particularly condemned Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

The joint statement stressed the importance of a truce in the Russia-Ukraine war. "We condemn Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which is causing immense human suffering," it said, adding that South Korea and the EU "will continue to support Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction" and discussed ways to expand that support.

The statement also condemned "third-party support that enables Russia to continue its war of aggression against Ukraine, in particular support from North Korea" and strongly condemned the illegal military cooperation between the two countries. It called on Russia and North Korea to "immediately cease all related activities and comply with the UN Charter and all relevant UN Security Council resolutions."

The statement marked an unusually strong denunciation of North Korea's military activities for the current administration and expressed firm commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

"North Korea will never be recognized as a nuclear-weapon state under the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) and will not be accorded any special status in that regard," the statement said, expressing "serious concern" over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The statement also expressed support for South Korea's efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue through active tension-reduction and confidence-building measures. Those efforts aim to achieve peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity on the Korean Peninsula through the normalization of inter-Korean exchanges and denuclearization.

On the ongoing US-Iran war, now more than 100 days old, the two sides called for "de-escalation and restraint," stressing the need to uphold freedom of navigation and safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and ensure full respect for international law, including the law of the sea as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The statement expressed support for establishing a high-level South Korea-EU economic dialogue and pledged to deepen bilateral economic cooperation through the development of a "South Korea-EU Competitiveness Partnership."

On the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the two sides committed to maintaining close consultations on their respective legislation and policies, including carbon border adjustment measures related to industrial policy, the circular economy and energy-intensive industries.

On the closely watched issue of steel tariff quotas, however, the statement contained only a pledge to "continue joint efforts to address global steel overproduction through the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity," with no specific agreements announced.

Starting July 1, the EU plans to cut the duty-free import quota for steel products to 18.3 million tons per year from the current 35 million tons — a reduction of nearly half — and double the existing 25 percent tariff to 50 percent on volumes exceeding that threshold.

The summit was the first between South Korea and the EU in a year, held at the EU's invitation, and marked the first visit by a South Korean president to the EU in eight years.

The EU is the world's largest trading bloc and South Korea's third-largest trading partner, with a population of 450 million, 27 member states and a GDP of 18 trillion euros (approximately $20.8 trillion).

Despite the global spread of protectionism, South Korea and the EU have maintained a trade relationship worth around $130 billion underpinned by their free trade agreement, with bilateral goods trade hitting a record high last year.

Cheong Wa Dae said the visit would serve as an opportunity to extend South Korea's diplomatic reach into Europe in earnest, building on the administration's first year of diplomatic achievements.