Following his meeting with President of Singapore Halimah Yacob, President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong held a summit. Prime Minister Lee began by saying that Singapore was paying attention to developments surrounding the Korean Peninsula. Wishing President Moon success in achieving prosperity, peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, Prime Minister Lee went on to say that he was gratified by the way President Moon is prioritizing the implementation of the New Southern Policy. He added he was looking forward to Korea’s relations with ASEAN and Singapore being drastically upgraded through President Moon’s leadership. 

President Moon said that Korea and Singapore established diplomatic ties in 1975 and had worked together since then, as part of the Four Asian Dragons. In the process of evolving into advanced nations, they have moved toward common goals of a free and open economy as well as peace and stability. He added there would be many lessons that Korean businesses could learn from Singapore.

After the summit, the two leaders attended an MOU signing ceremony and held a joint press conference.

At the joint press conference, Prime Minister Lee said President Moon and he had exchanged various ideas on how to further enhance bilateral relations. The Prime Minister explained about the plans to hold a follow-up meeting to evaluate the implementation of the Korea-Singapore FTA and increase exchanges between Singapore and cities in Korea, including Busan and Incheon, by upgrading the two nations’ air services agreement. The Prime Minister also outlined the six MOUs signed today on cooperation on the environment, technologies related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, free and fair trade, smart grids, smart cities, and SMEs and startups. 

Noting that Korea was a technology powerhouse as well as an innovation leader, the Prime Minister said that Korean businesses were aiming to further enhance their operations in his country to advance into other ASEAN member states. 

In particular, Prime Minister Lee expressed his gratitude to President Moon for the enormous efforts by the Korean Government and the President himself to seek dialogue with North Korea. The Prime Minister also expressed the intention to participate in the efforts for the success of the journey toward peace. 

President Moon also said the two leaders discussed ways at the summit to upgrade bilateral relations in a forward-looking manner. The President went on to say that the two leaders exchanged opinions on various issues: expanding people-to-people exchanges; strengthening economic cooperation; jointly participating in Smart City projects in third countries; expanding cooperation between SMEs and startups, and seeking close collaboration for peace and prosperity in the region.