- South Korea is the second-largest supplier of arms to European NATO members after US
- 'My vision is for Korea and NATO to become long-term partners,' President Lee tells Anadolu
A country thousands of kilometers from Brussels, with no seat at NATO's table, nonetheless emerged as one of the alliance's most active partners during this week's summit in Ankara.
For South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, attending his first NATO summit since taking office was not simply about reaffirming solidarity with the alliance. It was about positioning Asia's fourth-largest economy and one of the world's fastest-growing arms exporters as a long-term strategic and industrial partner for NATO, at a time when European and Indo-Pacific security are becoming increasingly intertwined.
"My message in Ankara is simple: Security is no longer confined by geography. The Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are increasingly connected by common security challenges," Lee told Anadolu.
"In this new era, security is determined not only by military strength, but also by technological innovation, resilient industrial bases, and trusted partnerships," he said.
South Korea is one of NATO's four Indo-Pacific partners (IP4), alongside Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Since first being invited to a NATO summit in 2022, the group has become an increasingly prominent feature of alliance meetings as NATO seeks closer cooperation with like-minded partners beyond the Euro-Atlantic region.
Packed schedule
Over two days, Lee held a packed schedule of meetings. He met NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte shortly after arriving Tuesday, their first in-person encounter, and delivered a keynote address to the NATO Summit Defense Industry Forum.
At a welcome dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he spoke with US President Donald Trump. According to Lee's office, the two leaders discussed the cooperation in building US military vessels, revisiting a discussion first held during the G7 summit in France last month.
On the second day of summit, Lee also held his first formal bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pledging $100 million in non-lethal reconstruction aid to Ukraine "as a demonstration of its commitment to international peace and security."
The 36th NATO summit, hosted in Ankara on July 7-8, brought together leaders of the alliance's 32 member states as it moves to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. NATO accounts for roughly 55% of global defense spending.
Over two days in Ankara, Lee sought to translate that political partnership into concrete industrial cooperation.
Korea-NATO defense partnership 2.0
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), South Korea was the second-largest supplier of arms to European NATO members after the US between 2021 and 2025, as the allies ramped up defense imports following the Russia-Ukraine war.
Addressing the Defense Industry Forum, a sideline event of this year's summit, Lee unveiled his vision for a "Korea-NATO Defense Partnership 2.0," arguing that cooperation should move beyond traditional arms procurement.
"For many years, cooperation between Korea and NATO has focused primarily on the procurement of defense equipment," he wrote in a commentary for Anadolu.
"A Korea-NATO Defense Partnership 2.0 means moving beyond simply buying and selling defense systems. It means researching together, producing together, and operating together."
Lee framed the shift as a matter of trust as much as capability.
"No defense partnership can succeed without confidence that critical technologies will be protected and that essential capabilities will remain reliable under any circumstances," he said.
The summit produced concrete steps toward that goal.
"The outcomes of this summit represent the first practical steps toward that vision. The launch of negotiations on a Korea-NATO Procurement Framework Agreement, our expanded participation in NATO's multinational capability projects, and our engagement with NATO's innovation ecosystem will help institutionalize cooperation that is broader, deeper, and more future-oriented."
The Procurement Framework Agreement would give Korean firms structured access to the alliance's roughly $9.9 billion annual defense procurement market, moving Seoul beyond one-off bilateral deals.
The country also expanded its role in NATO's multinational capability and innovation programs, in which it has so far participated only as an observer.
South Korea already has a foothold in European defense markets.
Poland has become its largest European customer, procuring K2 tanks, K9 howitzers, FA-50 light combat aircraft and Chunmoo rocket systems, while Norway and several other allies have also acquired South Korean-made defense equipment.
"My vision is for Korea and NATO to become long-term partners," Lee said, "in building not only stronger defense industries, but also a stronger international security architecture for the decades ahead."
Following the end of the summit, South Korean president left Ankara for a state visit to Mongolia, as the second leg of his overseas tour.
