Lee Jae Myung Seeks EU Defense Deals as Europe Faces €500 Billion Security Gap
Updated
Updated · Euronews · Jun 10
Lee Jae Myung Seeks EU Defense Deals as Europe Faces €500 Billion Security Gap
3 articles · Updated · Euronews · Jun 10
Summary
Lee Jae Myung arrives in Brussels on Wednesday for an EU-South Korea summit centered on security, defense and economic cooperation, with EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa due to join him.
South Korea enters the talks as a major arms supplier: it ranked among the top 10 exporters in 2020-2024, supplies NATO members heavily, and Poland alone took 46% of its defense exports in 2024.
The summit builds on a security and defense partnership signed late last year and comes as Europe looks for new suppliers while a U.S. pullback exposes a €500 billion defense shortfall.
Lee has framed the trip as a response to "overlapping global crises," while the timing also sharpens the geopolitical backdrop as Xi Jinping concludes a two-day visit to North Korea.