President Lee Jae-myung is preparing for a state visit to Korea by Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, right after the Lunar New Year holiday. According to Cheong Wa Dae, President Lula will make a state visit to Korea at President Lee's invitation from the 22nd to the 24th, the first such visit in 21 years since 2005. The two leaders, both former "boy workers," already met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit last year, where they shared a pragmatic governing philosophy and confirmed a close relationship.
This visit will be the first state visit hosted since President Lee returned to Cheong Wa Dae. The two leaders will hold a summit on the morning of the 23rd, followed by a signing ceremony for memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in the economic and social sectors and a state dinner. Brazil is considered Korea's largest trading partner among South American countries. About 230 officials from Brazilian corporations are also expected to accompany the visit and plan to expand trade between Korea and Brazil. Cheong Wa Dae said, "This is the first president to be received as a state guest since President Lee returned to Cheong Wa Dae."
In particular, during this period the two countries will hold the Brazil-Korea Business Forum and discuss expanding cooperation in various fields, including strategic minerals where Brazil holds a competitive edge, artificial intelligence (AI), agricultural technology, and cosmetics. President Lee and President Lula will also adopt a "three-year (2026–2029) plan" to elevate bilateral relations. The measures aim to strengthen practical cooperation in trade and investment, climate, energy, space, defense industry, science and technology, agriculture, education and culture, and people-to-people exchanges.
Earlier, the two leaders held a one-on-one meeting at the G7 summit in Canada in June last year. Cheong Wa Dae said they built not only a shared governing philosophy but also a deep emotional bond based on the commonality that both had been boy workers. As a teenager, President Lee was injured when his left arm was crushed by a press machine while working at a factory. President Lula, born to a poor farming family, left elementary school at age 12 to work at a dyeing factory and, at 19, lost the little finger on his left hand in an accident at a metal factory.