President Lee Jae-myung will return on the 4th after completing a four-day, three-night state visit to Singapore and the Philippines. On this morning, Lee will visit the Philippines' national cemetery, the "Heroes' Cemetery," lay a wreath at the Korean War memorial, and meet surviving veterans and their descendants. In particular, Lee will attend a business forum bringing together businesspeople from both countries to discuss economic cooperation, and then listen to suggestions from local Korean residents at a luncheon meeting.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee will attend the Korea-Philippines Business Forum to encourage businesspeople from both countries. At this event, beyond the existing cooperation between Korea and the Philippines in defense, infrastructure, and trade, it appears they will discuss expanding private-sector cooperation into shipbuilding and nuclear power and signing memorandums of understanding (MOUs). At the summit the previous day, the two countries also signed MOUs in nuclear power and minerals.
Industry circles expect additional submarine orders worth trillions of won on the back of this summit and business forum. Chung Ki-sun, chair of HD Hyundai, also accompanied the trip. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has been winning bids to supply warships to the Philippine Navy on an ongoing basis, and recently delivered the first of six offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) ahead of schedule. The delivery came five months earlier than the deadline.
The visits to Singapore and the Philippines are also expected to accelerate the market entry of domestic shipbuilding and defense corporations. Earlier, Korea and Singapore signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on joint development of small modular reactors (SMRs), talent training, and information sharing. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also met Lee at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju in Nov. last year and said, "A free trade agreement (FTA) has been concluded, and many forms of cooperation are being achieved in defense and security," signaling interest in K-defense.