President Lee and Brazil's Lula Greet with a Hug as Summit Begins

President Lee Jae-myung has begun a summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reuniting just a month later.

President Lee arrived at the presidential palace in Brasília at around 10:30 AM, escorted by Brazil's presidential mounted honor guard.

After getting out of his vehicle and walking to the plaza in front of the presidential palace, President Lee met President Lula and exchanged warm greetings with a hug.

This is the first time the two leaders have reunited in about a month, following their meeting at the Group of Seven (G7) summit held in Évian, France, in June.

The spouses of the two leaders, First Lady Kim Hye-kyung and Rosângela da Silva, also greeted each other with smiles.

The two first ladies previously built a bond during President Lula's state visit to South Korea in February, spending time together such as having traditional Korean hanbok custom-made.

President Lee and his wife then received a state-level welcome, observing the national anthems and the lined-up honor guard, military band, and mounted guard, before heading inside the presidential palace for the summit.

During this process, President Lula was also captured linking arms with President Lee in a friendly manner while conversing.

At the bilateral summit today, discussions are expected to cover supply chain cooperation for critical minerals such as rare earths—for which Brazil holds the world's second-largest reserves—as well as the resumption of negotiations for the South Korea-MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market) trade agreement.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.