President Lee Jae Myung and first lady Kim Hea Kyung walk toward Air Force One at Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires on Saturday (local time) after concluding their visit to Argentina and departing for Frankfurt, the next stop on their trip. (Yonhap) President Lee Jae Myung is set to arrive in Frankfurt, Germany, on Sunday for the final leg of his 11-day trip to the United States and three South American countries that produced agreements on artificial intelligence, critical minerals, energy security and trade.Lee is scheduled to meet members of the Korean community during a brief stop in Frankfurt before returning to Seoul on Monday.His trip, the longest since he took office, covered approximately 44,000 kilometers and involved about 56 hours of air travel. It began with a visit to the US, followed by stops in Brazil, Chile and Argentina.The presidential office here said the tour pursued two main goals: expanding an artificial intelligence partnership with major US technology companies and broadening South Korea’s cooperation with the Global South in critical minerals and energy.Lee concluded the South American leg of his trip in Argentina, holding talks with President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires on Friday.In the talks, the two leaders laid the groundwork for expanding energy and mineral partnerships between the two countries.According to National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, South Korea will begin regular imports of Argentine crude starting next year, expanding its oil supply network beyond the Middle East amid the war with Iran.“This is expected to provide an opportunity to diversify our crude oil supply sources, which are currently concentrated in the Middle East, by expanding them to South America, reducing geopolitical risks and strengthening the resilience of our energy supply,” Wi said.“The two countries also agreed to broaden energy cooperation beyond crude oil to areas including natural gas and nuclear power while jointly identifying concrete projects,” he added.South Korea has arranged to import 880,000 barrels of Argentine crude this year, with the shipments expected to arrive in the country by August. The volume of imports planned for next year has yet to be determined.The summit also established a framework for cooperation on supply chains for critical minerals needed in future industries, Wi said.During Lee’s visit, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals. Under the agreement, they will share information on relevant policies and investment frameworks while promoting corporate investment and joint projects across the lithium value chain, including exploration and mining.“We also reaffirmed the Argentine government’s commitment to continued support for a lithium project being pursued by a Korean company and plan to expand investment opportunities for our companies in other critical-mineral sectors, including copper,” Wi said.During the trip to Argentina, Lee also secured further momentum to revise the Korea-Mercosur talks, first raised after his meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on July 27.According to Wi, the two countries “agreed to seek an early resumption of negotiations on a Korea-Mercosur trade agreement to expand Korean companies’ access to South American markets."Wi said that despite tensions between Argentina and Brazil, the two South American nations do not appear to have "any particular disagreement or gap in their positions" on the matter.Negotiations between South Korea and the four founding members of the South American trade bloc — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — have been stalled since 2021.Thirteen agreements in South AmericaSouth Korea signed 13 memorandums of understanding during Lee’s visits to Brazil, Chile and Argentina — seven with Brazil, five with Chile and one with Argentina.The agreements with Brazil covered space, sports, education, energy, industrial technology, film and cybersecurity.In Chile, the two sides signed agreements on critical minerals, public security, polar research, maritime safety and security and investment cooperation.The Argentina agreement established a framework for cooperation on critical minerals, particularly lithium.The presidential office here said the agreements would help South Korea diversify supply chains for minerals essential to advanced industries.Brazil has the world’s second-largest rare earth reserves after China, while Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and the second-largest lithium producer. Argentina holds the world’s fourth-largest lithium reserves.Rare earths are widely used in semiconductors, smartphones and aerospace products, while copper is essential for AI data centers and power infrastructure and lithium is a key material for rechargeable batteries.South Korea and the three countries agreed to pursue cooperation throughout the mineral value chain, from exploration and extraction to processing and refining, while identifying joint investment opportunities.Lee also agreed with Chilean President Gabriel Boric to pursue the modernization of the Korea-Chile Free Trade Agreement, which entered into force in 2004 as South Korea’s first bilateral free trade agreement.Wi said the tour enabled Lee to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of every Group of 20 member except Russia since taking office and helped build support for South Korea’s presidency of the G20 in 2028.“The government will steadily follow up on the agreements reached during the summit diplomacy with the three South American countries so that they lead to concrete projects and tangible results,” Wi said.