Good morning. My warm welcome to you, Secretary Lammy, and your delegation.

Good to see you again following our meeting in Vientiane in July and our brief encounter in New York during the High-level Week of the UN General Assembly. I’m very pleased to co-chair with you the ROK-UK Strategic Dialogue in Seoul today.

As you mentioned, the ROK-UK friendship stands on deep historical foundation stretching back 140 years. It is also a future-oriented one. To open the next phase in relations, the two countries forged Global Strategic Partnership and articulated an ambitious vision for this elevated and reinforced partnership in the <Downing Street Accord> during President Yoon’s State Visit to the UK last year.

Significantly, President Yoon and Prime Minister Starmer reaffirmed their full commitment to the <Downing Street Accord> during the bilateral summit held in Washington on the margin of NATO Summit less than a week after the inauguration of the UK’s new Labour government in July.

Nearly one year on from the Accord, the cooperation between our two countries has never been stronger.

We are working to further tighten our security cooperation through the Foreign and Defence 2+2 Ministerial Meeting agreed to last year. On trade, we are striving to upgrade the Korea-UK FTA which will help boost economic security of both nations. Additionally, we are tapping into the immense potential for cooperation in areas such as AI, quantum, bio and clean energy, including nuclear power.

Furthermore, we both recognize the critical importance of cooperation on multilateral stage like the UN, where we both sit on the Security Council presently, as well as the G7 and the G20 with a view to advancing shared commitments to climate actions, the SDGs and multilateral institutions.

Today’s discussion, the first Strategic Dialogue since the Downing Street Accord, will take our Global Strategic Partnership one step further by enhancing our strategic alignment and coordination.

In a geopolitical landscape where the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific are increasingly intertwined by the day, as illustrated by the recent developments on the Korean Peninsula and in Ukraine including deployment of North Korean troops to Russia, we must work together as trusted partners bound by shared values.

The forward- and outward-looking philosophies underpinning both the “Progressive Realism” which you have personally espoused, and the vision of a “Global Pivotal State” which my government embraces offer natural synergies.

I very much look forward to fruitful discussions with you today on wide-ranging issues of common interest, bilateral, multilateral and global. Thank you very much. And my very warm welcome to you once again.