PM Lawrence Wong at the Joint Press Conference with President of the Republic of Korea Yoon Suk Yeol (Oct 2024)

Your Excellency Yoon Suk Yeol, President of the Republic of Korea,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me start by extending, once again, a very warm welcome to President Yoon. This is his first visit to Singapore as President of the Republic of Korea.

This is also our first meeting in person. But we have had a good interaction at the Seoul AI Virtual Summit and also a good chat over the phone in May this year when President Yoon called to congratulate me on my new appointment.

We just had a fruitful discussion on ways to expand our cooperation both bilaterally and regionally.

Strategic Partnership

Singapore and Korea share a warm, substantive, and multifaceted relationship.

Our two countries have many things in common. We were both “Asian Tigers” that successfully transformed our economies. Korea, of course, has done this on a much bigger scale. You have one of the world’s largest economies, powered by innovative chaebols, SMEs and start-ups, as well as a trendsetting culture which has taken the world by storm.

Having experienced such rapid transformation gives our two countries a deeper appreciation for what we have today. And because we have benefitted greatly from regional peace and stability, we now seek to do our part to contribute towards the rule of law and strengthening the rules-based global order.

Our bilateral cooperation is excellent.

We have close trading ties and strong investment links.

We see strong interest both ways – investments from Korea to Singapore are growing; likewise, investments from Singapore to Korea.

And I understand that President Yoon will participate later this afternoon in a business forum. This will catalyse even more economic opportunities.

We are also expanding our cooperation to new areas.

We have just witnessed the signing of an Extradition Treaty

And the exchange of five MOUs covering supply chains; LNG procurement; technological cooperation; food safety; and SMEs and Startups.

The strength of our relationship is also evident from our close people-to-people links.

We see a growing flow of tourist exchanges and the passenger arrivals have already exceeded that before Covid. And we also see more people shuttling back and forth between Korean cities and Singapore, for their studies and for work.

Singaporeans, like people from all over the world, are big fans of Korean drama and K-pop. The Korean community in Singapore is also growing, and Korean cuisine has become an integral part of our multicultural food scene. So, these people-to-people links are strong.

In recognition of the growing depth and breadth of our partnership, I am pleased to share that President Yoon and I have agreed to work towards upgrading our bilateral relations to a Strategic Partnership next year.

This will also be a timely milestone for both our countries.

Because 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties.

The upgrade is not just a change in name; it also means more substantial cooperation, which we discussed during the meeting.

For example, we are looking to upgrade the Korea-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (KSFTA) to better meet the needs of our economies in today’s digital age; we are hoping to expand our Air Services Agreement (ASA) to strengthen connectivity and to ride on the strong demand for air travel.

Our agencies are also discussing ways to expand cooperation in areas like defence, education, climate change, AI and cybersecurity, as well as the digital and green economy.

So, I look forward to making substantial progress on all of these issues in the coming months, especially as we look forward to the upgrading of our bilateral relationship and the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year.

ASEAN

We also discussed, during our meeting, Korea’s relations with ASEAN. And this year marks the 35th anniversary of ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations.

We welcome Korea’s commitment to ASEAN Centrality, as outlined in President Yoon’s Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI).

And we discussed areas to strengthen ASEAN-ROK relations, including through upgrading the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement and concluding an ASEAN-Korea Air Services Agreement.

Singapore appreciates Korea’s support for ASEAN’s digital transformation through its ASEAN-Korea Digital Innovation Flagship project, which will help to unlock new opportunities for the digital economy.

We will continue to work closely to further enhance ASEAN-ROK relations, including at our discussions in Laos later this week.

Situation in the Korean Peninsula

We also discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

And President Yoon updated me on recent developments as well as his initiatives on the Korean Peninsula.

Singapore wants to see a peaceful and stable Korean Peninsula and we will do what we can to facilitate efforts towards this end. That is why we had agreed to host the US-DPRK Summit in 2018. Ultimately, peaceful reunification is for the Korean people to decide and determine, but we encourage continued constructive dialogue between the DPRK and ROK so as to promote peace, stability, and prosperity.

Conclusion

In this dangerous, more volatile, and more troubled world, partnerships between like-minded countries are more important than before.

I am confident that the bilateral cooperation between Korea and Singapore will continue to grow from strength to strength.

And I look forward to working closely with President Yoon to take our bilateral ties to greater heights.