President Lee Jae Myung departed Friday on an 11-day, seven-night overseas trip that will take him to the United States, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Germany — a near-circumnavigation of the globe.
Air Force One, carrying Lee and first lady Kim Hye-kyung, lifted off from Seoul Airport in Seongnam at around 1:30 a.m. Friday.
In the US, Lee plans to visit San Francisco — home to Silicon Valley — to discuss AI cooperation with the chief executives of major tech companies, while his South American stops will focus on securing critical minerals and strengthening supply chain partnerships.
Lee is scheduled to arrive in San Francisco on Friday local time and hold meetings with a lineup of global tech leaders, including Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia; and Hock Tan, president and CEO of Broadcom.
Lee also plans to attend an AI summit in San Francisco, where he intends to begin generating tangible results from the three mega-projects the government recently announced.
The AI summit will bring together roughly 150 participants from domestic and international AI companies — including the global tech CEOs Lee met with earlier, as well as leading Korean conglomerate heads: Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics; Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group; Euisun Chung, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group; and Lee Hae-jin, chairman of Naver.
On Saturday, Lee is set to attend a Silicon Valley venture investment meetup.
He is expected to meet with representatives from six venture capital firms: Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates.
Kim Yong-beom, chief of the Cheong Wa Dae Policy Office, said Lee plans to use his meetings with global tech CEOs — many of whom are already collaborating with Korean companies — to underscore South Korea's commitment to sweeping AI investment and global cooperation, and to secure concrete outcomes such as investment and partnerships from key players in the global AI supply chain.
After concluding his US visit, Lee will travel to Brasília, Brazil, on Sunday for a state visit.
He will hold a summit in the Brazilian capital and attend a Korea-Brazil Business Roundtable in São Paulo, where business leaders from both countries will discuss ways to expand investment and industrial cooperation.
On Thursday, Lee will meet Chilean President José Antonio Kast in Santiago for a summit covering the modernization of their free trade agreement and cooperation on critical minerals.
Next Friday, Lee will meet Argentine President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires to discuss economic security issues, including expanded cooperation on energy, minerals and supply chains.
Wi Sung-lac, chief of the Cheong Wa Dae National Security Office, said the South American leg of the trip aims to strengthen strategic partnerships on critical mineral supply chains with the countries visited, and to deepen discussions on diversifying sources of food and energy imports.
Because the distance from South America to South Korea exceeds the range of a single flight, Air Force One will stop in Frankfurt, Germany, on Aug. 2 to refuel. During the layover, Lee will hold a meeting with Korean residents in the city before returning home.
sang@heraldcorp.com
