South Korea, NATO hold defense procurement talks at Ankara summit

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte discussed defense procurement on Tuesday during a meeting on the sidelines of the alliance's summit in Türkiye.

Lee said a procurement agreement would provide a solid foundation for South Korean defense companies to further expand into the NATO defense market, according to a post on the US social media company X by the South Korean president.

Lee said he was pleased to meet Rutte in person for the first time as they met on the sidelines to discuss ways to strengthen their bilateral partnership, while Rutte thanked the South Korean president for his efforts to deepen ties between Seoul and NATO.

Rutte said in another X post that South Korea is "a close partner" of NATO.

"In a more dangerous world, our security is not regional but global and Euro-Atlantic security & Indo-Pacific security are closely linked," he said.

The summit in Ankara is bringing together leaders of the 32-member alliance, as well as key partners, to discuss Europe’s defense capacity, NATO’s defense spending targets, military modernization and continued support for Ukraine.

Although they are not NATO members, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan have been invited to the alliance’s annual summits as guests since 2022.

The Ankara meeting marks the second NATO summit hosted by Türkiye, following the 2004 Istanbul summit. The gathering also provides a platform for bilateral meetings between Türkiye and allied countries on political, security and economic cooperation.