Ji Da-gyum

For over a decade, I’ve navigated the complexities of North Korean affairs, security, and foreign policy from both Seoul and Washington, D.C. As the National Desk Political Team Lead, I track the pulse of geopolitics, closely following developments from the Unification Ministry and the Foreign Ministry. My mornings start with Rodong Sinmun—North Korea’s state mouthpiece—before diving into the day’s headlines from Seoul and Washington.

Lee says leaders share ‘profound consensus’ that Korea-Mercosur trade pact can no longer be delayed President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva make finger-heart gestures toward reporters after a joint news conference at the presidential residence in Brasília on Monday. (Yonhap) President Lee Jae Myung said South Korea and Brazil agreed to expand cooperation beyond trade and investment into emerging industries, including aerospace and critical minerals.The two countries also agreed to launch a joint defense industry committee and pursue a military information-sharing agreement, laying the groundwork for deeper defense and security cooperation, Lee said.Lee and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held summit talks in Brasilia on Monday, marking their fifth meeting since Lee took office in June 2025. Lee’s trip marked the first state visit to Brazil by a South Korean president in 11 years.At a joint news conference following the 140-minute summit, Lee said he and Lula “agreed to strengthen economic cooperation, a key driver of bilateral relations.”In particular, Lee said, the two leaders “reached a profound consensus that, at a time of growing uncertainty in the global trading environment, a trade agreement between Korea and Mercosur is an important task that can no longer be postponed.”Negotiations on a trade agreement between South Korea and Mercosur—which comprises Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay—have been stalled since 2021.“I am confident that the Korea-Mercosur Trade Agreement will expand opportunities for Korean companies to enter Mercosur, while providing Brazilian businesses with new opportunities to access the Asian market, with Korea serving as a gateway,” Lee said.Lee added that the agreement would broaden cooperation beyond trade to include high-tech industries, supply chains, and the digital and green economies.“In doing so, it will serve as a solid foundation for our two countries to grow together as true strategic partners,” Lee said. President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hold a joint news conference at the presidential residence in Brasilia on Monday. (Yonhap) The two leaders agreed to establish a working group to revive the stalled trade negotiations and expand bilateral cooperation across economic and security issues. Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and South Korean presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom will lead the group.“We have agreed to establish a working group. By identifying sensitive issues, we will work to ensure that there are no obstacles to resuming negotiations on a trade agreement between South Korea and Mercosur,” Lula said through an interpreter.Lee said the working group would provide a channel for “direct communication on advancing bilateral relations.”“Through this channel, we will further deepen cooperation and exchanges between South Korea and Brazil—which remain far too limited—in every area, including the economy, industry, security and culture,” he said. “And, of course, we will ensure that progress is made very quickly.”The leaders also agreed to “strengthen strategic cooperation in resources and energy in order to diversify our supply chains,” Lee said.“President Lula and I shared the view that it is important to expand cooperation between our companies and institutions across the entire critical-minerals value chain,” he said.Brazil is home to some of the world’s largest reserves of critical minerals, including niobium, rare earths, graphite and nickel, which are essential to advanced industries and the clean-energy transition. President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva walk together to attend a signing ceremony at the presidential residence in Brasilia on Monday. (Yonhap) New frontiers in strategic cooperationLee said the two leaders had also committed to “creating new growth engines by expanding cooperation in advanced and emerging industries.”In defense, the two sides agreed to launch a joint defense industry committee in the second half of this year.Seoul and Brasilia will also pursue a General Security of Military Information Agreement, commonly known as GSOMIA, which Lee said would “generate new opportunities for cooperation in defense and the defense industry.”Lee cited the use of Korean-made components in Brazil’s C-390 military transport aircraft, which the South Korean Air Force is scheduled to begin introducing in the second half of this year, as “a symbolic example of defense industry cooperation between our two countries.”“We agreed to further advance such cooperation and explore new partnerships in future air mobility by leveraging our respective strengths.”South Korea selected Embraer’s C-390 in December 2023 under an offset arrangement involving a consortium of South Korean small and medium-sized companies in the production of key components, including the rear fuselage. The acquisition marks the first time the South Korean Air Force has purchased a Brazilian military aircraft.Lee also called for Lula’s support for South Korean defense exports to Brazil.“Given Brazil’s leading position in Latin America’s defense industry, I would greatly appreciate your special interest and support so that Korea’s diverse defense systems—whose outstanding performance has been proven—can also gain recognition in Brazil,” Lee said. President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hold an expanded summit meeting at the presidential residence in Brasilia on Monday. (Yonhap) The two leaders also committed to expanding cooperation in aviation and space.South Korea and Brazil signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space following the summit. The agreement is intended to streamline procedures for commercial launches and broaden cooperation across the space sector, including satellite-data sharing and space exploration.Lee said the agreement “will play a key role in enabling our two countries to jointly open a new chapter in the future space era.”The two countries are also preparing for a launch in September, when South Korean private space startup Innospace is scheduled to send a new commercial rocket into space from Brazil’s Alcantara Space Center.The two sides will also pursue cooperation in semiconductors, Lee said.“We agreed to work together to make cooperation with Korean semiconductor companies a model of mutually beneficial partnership—strengthening Brazil’s industrial competitiveness while providing Korean businesses with a stable production base,” he said.In closing, Lee cast the partnership between South Korea and Brazil as one capable of bridging the vast distance between them.“When our two countries combine their respective strengths, the vast ocean separating us will no longer be a barrier,” Lee said. “Instead, it will become a space of possibility where new opportunities are created.”