·ANKARA, Turkey — President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday proposed elevating Korea-NATO defense industrial cooperation to its next phase, calling for ties to move beyond arms sales toward joint weapons development, production and operation.
·Speaking at the NATO Summit Defense Industry Forum during his first NATO summit as South Korea’s president, Lee proposed a “Korea-NATO Defense Industry Partnership 2.0,” positioning South Korea as a “trusted partner” rather than simply a supplier of weapons.
·“Today, I would like to share a vision for defense industry cooperation that the Republic of Korea and NATO — partners united by the shared values of democracy, freedom and peace — will build together for a safer world,” Lee said, referring to South Korea by its official name.
·“I propose that we elevate our current defense cooperation, focused mainly on weapons system transactions, to a ‘Korea-NATO Defense Industry Partnership 2.0,’ which will involve jointly researching, producing and operating those systems,” he said before an audience of about 1,000 participants.
·The NATO Defense Industry Forum, which became an official event of the NATO summit last year, brought together more than 1,000 senior government officials, defense industry executives and financial-sector leaders from NATO allies and partner countries.
