On the afternoon of May 22, 2023, Pres­ident Yoon Suk-yeol adopted a joint state­ment consisting of 12 pages of A4 paper after the summit meeting with President Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union (EU) Com­mission, and Charles Michel, the EU Council President.

The joint statement includes contents such as enhancing partnership in the three major areas of Green, Health and Digital, establishing a new strategic dialogue between the Korean and EU foreign minis­ters for comprehensive security cooperation, and close cooper­ation for a unified internation­al response to North Korean provocations.

President Yoon stated in a joint press conference after the summit, "Korea and the European Union have been ad­vancing cooperation in various fields such as politics, economy, and the global agenda for the past 60 years." He further ex­plained, "Today, we discussed ways to expand and strengthen the cooperation between Korea and the European Union."

The Korea-EU Summit decid­ed to enhance the partnership in the three major areas of Green, Health, and Digital.

President Yoon said , "Through the 'Korean-EU Green Partnership,' we have decided to expand comprehen­sive cooperation in the field of climate and environment, and through the 'Administra­tive Agreement on Korean-EU Health Emergency Response,' we have established a coop­erative framework for global health crisis response."He also mentioned the fol­low-up measures for the 'Ko­rean-EU Digital Partnership,' which was concluded in November last year.

Furthermore, the Kore­an-EU Summit agreed to strengthen bilateral security cooperation. To achieve this, a new strategic dialogue will be established between the Kore­an Foreign Minister and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to enhance comprehen­sive security cooperation in various fields.

The two leaders also agreed to continue cooperation on ma­jor regional and international issues. In particular, they ac­knowledged that North Korea's nuclear and missile develop­ment poses a serious threat to global security beyond the Korean Peninsula and agreed to cooperate closely for a uni­fied international response to North Korean provocations.

In this regard, President Yoon explained, "The President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission have supported the goals and visions pursued by Korea's 'bold plan,' and we have agreed to continue our ef­forts for complete denucleariza­tion of North Korea together."

The two leaders also decided to strengthen the partner­ship for freedom, peace, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, considering that the Indo-Pacific strategy of both sides identifies each other as key cooperation partners and has areas of convergence in vi­sion and priority fields. They also agreed to enhance cooperation for economic se­curity promotion and resilient supply chain establishment.

President Yoon stated, "The EU is Korea's third-largest trading partner and the larg­est investment partner." He welcomed the expansion of mutually beneficial economic cooperation between the two sides in the areas of semicon­ductors, supply chains, digital, and space, among others.

They agreed to maintain close communication to ensure that a series of legislative is­sues pursued by the EU, such as the Carbon Border Adjust­ment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), do not impede bilater­al economic cooperation.Lastly, Korea and the EU agreed to expand the founda­tion of scientific and technolog­ical exchanges and strengthen mutual cooperation in digital trade.

The two leaders agreed to pursue Korea's membership as an associate member in the Horizon Europe, the EU's larg­est research support program, and to make efforts to reach a binding agreement in the field of digital trade based on the 'Digital Trade Principles' con­cluded last November.

Meanwhile, prior to the sum­mit, President Ursula von der Leyen and President Charles Michel paid tribute to the National Seoul Cemetery in Dongjak-gu, Seoul