President Lee Jae Myung held his first phone talks with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, on Thursday and discussed ways to deepen Seoul’s partnership with the transnational military alliance, Lee’s office said.During the call, Lee congratulated Rutte for the successful hosting of the recent NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, and stressed that Seoul will work to deepen the partnership between South Korea and NATO in the wake of multilayered crises across the globe, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said.According to Kang, Rutte thanked Lee for having South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac join the NATO summit last week and delivering South Korea’s resolute determination to cooperate with NATO.The two sides also vowed to strengthen their cooperation in the defense industry, including on ways that South Korea can take part in a joint development project for NATO’s next-generation energy systems.Lee was invited to this year’s NATO summit as head of a global partner nation of the organization but decided to skip it, citing domestic priorities and the growing uncertainty in the Middle East. Wi, Lee’s top security aide, attended the gathering instead.
Lee discusses deepening of partnership in phone talks with NATO chief
