Accompanied by a delegation of ministers and first lady Emine Erdoğan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Seoul on Monday for an official visit at the invitation of President Lee Jae Myung. The president and the first lady were welcomed at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam by South Korean Trade Minister Park Jung-sung.
Erdoğan's visit will mostly concentrate on economic relations and, particularly, partnership in nuclear power.
The president is accompanied on his visit by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chair and head of Health Policies Halit Yerebakan, and Defense Industries Secretary Haluk Görgün.
Erdoğan said South Korea could become a partner in developing Türkiye's planned Sinop nuclear power station, according to an interview with Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday. Türkiye has been studying the technical and economic terms of the Black Sea project with state-run Korea Electric Power Corp, Erdoğan said. Ankara would weigh financing, electricity costs and benefits to the Turkish economy before choosing a partner, he added.
In his interview with Yonhap, Erdoğan also identified defense, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and robotics as potential areas for cooperation and called for more South Korean investment and joint production in Türkiye. He said the countries were working toward a $15 billion bilateral trade target, while calling for efforts to address an imbalance in South Korea's favor. He invited South Korean companies to participate in Turkish transport and logistics projects linking Asia and Europe.
