{"id":14282,"date":"2026-07-23T05:12:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T00:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=14282"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:12:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T00:12:46","slug":"south-korean-president-to-visit-u-s-south-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=14282","title":{"rendered":"South Korean president to visit U.S., South America"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/6691784755385\/2026\/upi_com\/52f42289e9e0fd1a6d87983c5681230d\/v1.5\/South-Korean-president-to-visit-US-South-America.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (C) speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, South Korea, 21 July 2026. Photo by YONHAP \/ EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 22 (Asia Today) &#8212;<\/span> South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will begin an 11-day trip to the United States and three South American countries Friday to expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, critical minerals and energy supply chains.<\/p>\n<p>National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac announced the itinerary Wednesday during a briefing at the presidential office.\n<\/p>\n<p>Lee will visit San Francisco before traveling to Brazil, Chile and Argentina. He is scheduled to return to South Korea on Aug. 3 after stopping in Frankfurt, Germany.<\/p>\n<p>The president will attend an AI summit in San Francisco on Friday, where he plans to discuss cooperation with global technology companies based in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n<p>Wi said the meeting would advance South Korea&#8217;s strategy for AI and semiconductor development following the government&#8217;s announcement of three major national projects.<\/p>\n<p>Lee will attend a Silicon Valley venture investment summit Saturday and meet representatives of U.S. venture capital firms.<\/p>\n<p>The presidential office said it hopes to connect the South Korean and U.S. venture investment ecosystems and expand opportunities for South Korean startups to attract international funding.<\/p>\n<p>Lee will then begin a tour of three South American countries focused on trade, investment, critical minerals and energy security.\n<\/p>\n<p>He will begin a state visit to Brazil on Sunday at the invitation of President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva. Lee and Lula will hold a summit Monday followed by a memorandum-signing ceremony, a joint news conference and a state luncheon.<\/p>\n<p>Lee will travel to S\u00e3o Paulo on Tuesday for a luncheon with Korean residents and a South Korea-Brazil business roundtable.<\/p>\n<p>Brazil holds major reserves of rare-earth elements needed for industries including semiconductor manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p>Lee will make an official visit to Chile from Wednesday through Thursday and meet President Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast, whose administration took office this year.<\/p>\n<p>Chile is a major global source of lithium, a critical material used in electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems.<\/p>\n<p>Lee will then visit Argentina from Thursday through Saturday. It will be the first official visit to Argentina by a South Korean president in 22 years.<\/p>\n<p>Argentina has some of the world&#8217;s largest shale gas resources and is part of South America&#8217;s &#8220;lithium triangle&#8221; with Chile and Bolivia.<\/p>\n<p>Wi said the South American tour was intended to expand trade and investment with Brazil, Chile and Argentina while helping South Korean companies enter new markets.<\/p>\n<p>Lee plans to discuss restarting negotiations on a trade agreement between South Korea and the South American trade bloc Mercosur during his meetings with the leaders of Brazil and Argentina.\n<\/p>\n<p>Brazil and Argentina are leading members of the regional bloc. Argentina is led by President Javier Milei.<\/p>\n<p>Lee will also discuss modernizing South Korea&#8217;s free trade agreement with Chile, the first country to sign such an agreement with Seoul.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We expect this to significantly increase trade with these countries and expand opportunities for our companies to enter South American markets,&#8221; Wi said.<\/p>\n<p>Wi said the trip would also broaden South Korea&#8217;s diplomacy in the Global South and strengthen cooperation with major South American countries in international forums.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8212; Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>\u00a9 Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Original Korean report: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260722010008163\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260722010008163<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korean President Lee Jae Myung (C) speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, South Korea, 21 July 2026. Photo by YONHAP \/ EPA July 22 (Asia Today) &#8212; South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will begin an 11-day trip to the United States and three South American&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/6691784755385\/2026\/1\/52f42289e9e0fd1a6d87983c5681230d\/v1.5\/South-Korean-president-to-visit-US-South-America.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}