President Lee Jae-myung said on the 23rd (local time) that the Egyptian government asked that Korean corporations take part in a Cairo airport expansion project worth 3 trillion to 4 trillion won, adding, "I did not have high expectations, but I received many very concrete, good proposals."
On this day, President Lee held a cabin briefing aboard Air Force One en route from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Ankara, Türkiye, and outlined the results of his Middle East and Africa tour. Türkiye is the last stop of the tour.
President Lee cited his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as a memorable achievement. Lee said, "I did not have high expectations for Egypt, but in a conversation with President el-Sisi that lasted nearly twice the scheduled time, I received many very concrete, good proposals," adding, "They plan to expand Cairo airport, and there was even talk that it would be good if Korean corporations handled the expansion and also operated it." He added that the Cairo airport expansion is a large-scale project worth 3 trillion to 4 trillion won.
This tour produced a range of outcomes related to the defense industry. President Lee said, "In the case of the United Arab Emirates, Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik went as a special envoy, identified many areas for collaboration, and even unearthed specific projects, so it seems we achieved very concrete and substantive results," adding, "Türkiye also has great interest in the defense field, the defense sector, so cooperation will be possible."
Lee said, "Other countries are not looking to purchase our weapons, but are more interested in joint development, joint production, joint sales, and market cultivation," adding, "In the case of India, it specifically requested collaboration in the shipbuilding industry, and it is presumed that the military supply field will be included." Korea and India plan to discuss concrete measures for collaboration in the shipbuilding industry soon.
Amid U.S.-China tensions, he also spoke candidly about the Korean government's position. Lee said, "The basic principle of South Korea's diplomacy is to be grounded in the South Korea-U.S. alliance, while managing relations with China stably and well," adding, "At its core, it is interest-centered pragmatic diplomacy."
Lee said, "If you approach inter-state relations in a cut-and-dried 'all or nothing' way, in the end nothing is left," adding, "Although the Japan-China conflict is continuing on a considerable scale, from South Korea's standpoint we must coolly observe the situation and do our utmost to ensure Korea's national interests are not damaged."
He also answered questions about relations with North Korea. Asked whether he plans to scale back South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, Lee said, "What North Korea is most sensitive to is the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises," adding, "If a peace regime between the South and the North is firmly established, not conducting them would be desirable." He said, "At this stage it is not something that can be easily discussed," adding, "In the long term, South Korea's defense should be borne by South Korea itself, and if we can firmly establish a peace regime in which, as much as possible, we do not need to conduct military exercises—in other words, one in which we do not have to fight—then we would not need to conduct costly joint military exercises."