Lee to attend ASEAN, APEC summits in Manila and Shenzhen from Monday

President Lee Jae Myung will travel to Manila in the Philippines and Shenzhen in China over four days from Monday through Thursday for a series of ASEAN-related summits and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' meeting.

National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac announced the detailed itinerary and four expected outcomes of the multilateral diplomatic trip at a briefing Thursday.

The first leg of the trip, from Monday through Tuesday, covers ASEAN-related summits in Manila. Lee will attend the ASEAN-Korea Summit on Monday, sharing key implementation results of the Korea-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership vision proposed last year and discussing ways to deepen cooperation with ASEAN, a core economic and diplomatic partner. Lee will then attend the Mekong-Korea Summit, where he will reaffirm commitment to advancing the strategic partnership and explore deeper cooperation on critical minerals and transnational crime.

On Tuesday morning, Lee will attend the ASEAN Plus Three summit and lay out a vision for future cooperation as the grouping approaches its 30th anniversary next year. That afternoon, Lee will attend the East Asia Summit for the first time since taking office, where he plans to state the government's position on key regional issues including online scams and share South Korea's Korean Peninsula peace coexistence initiative.

The second leg begins Wednesday with a move to Shenzhen for the APEC leaders' meeting. Lee's official schedule kicks off with attendance at the CEO Summit upon arrival, followed by a welcome dinner hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his spouse. At the APEC plenary session beginning Thursday morning, leaders will discuss this year's theme — "Building an Open, Innovative and Interconnected Asia-Pacific Community for Shared Prosperity." Lee plans to share South Korea's policies and experience as last year's APEC host and convey the country's commitment to contributing constructively to APEC's development and regional prosperity.

Wi outlined four expected outcomes of the trip: continued implementation of the regional multilateral diplomacy vision, strengthening practical cooperation that citizens and businesses can feel, leading discussions on solutions to shared regional challenges, and securing support for the government's Korean Peninsula peace coexistence policy.

More specifically, the government aims to bookend its multilateral diplomacy in the region — opening with this year's APEC summit and closing with a Korea-ASEAN Special Summit planned for 2029 in the latter half of Lee's term. It also plans to consolidate AI cooperation and discussions on demographic change, both of which South Korea championed at last year's Gyeongju APEC summit, as core agenda items going forward. Building on the first-ever police cooperation project between South Korean police and Aseanapol — realized on Lee's initiative last year — the government plans to strengthen a safety network for the about 9 million South Koreans who visit the ASEAN region annually, and to propose cooperation in future sectors such as AI and the cultural and creative industries to lay the groundwork for continued expansion by South Korean companies.

At the ASEAN Plus Three summit, Lee will lead discussions on crisis response in food and energy. At the APEC plenary, he will call for cooperation to address energy supply chain shocks stemming from the Middle East and to restore the multilateral trade order. Alongside these sessions, Lee will hold separate meetings with leaders of key countries to build mutual trust, while urging regional nations to maintain their unwavering support and constructive contributions to South Korea's efforts to resume inter-Korean and North Korea-US dialogue and achieve lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.