President Lee Jae Myung Leads Five-Nation Tour for AI and Trade

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is conducting a five-nation diplomatic and economic tour from July 24 to August 3, visiting the United States, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Germany. A primary focus of the trip is a visit to San Francisco for the AI Summit, where Lee will meet with executives from Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Broadcom, as well as leaders from six venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital.

In San Francisco, Lee intends to issue a "San Francisco AI declaration" to position South Korea as an irreplaceable state in the global AI mainstream. The president will be joined by leaders from Samsung Electronics, SK Group, and Naver to discuss high-bandwidth memory supply for Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform, foundry services, and the development of an "AI factory" initiative. The National Pension Service will also attend a memorandum of understanding ceremony to establish long-term partnerships with venture capital firms.

The tour continues with summits in South America to expand trade and secure critical minerals. Lee will meet with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, President Jose Antonio Kast of Chile to modernize a free trade agreement, and President Javier Milei of Argentina. These meetings aim to advance the South Korean-Mercosur trade agreement. The journey concludes in Frankfurt, Germany, with a meeting for South Korean residents.