[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung, who is attending the NATO summit, met with U.S. President Donald Trump again after three weeks. Regarding the construction of military vessels requested by President Trump three weeks ago, President Lee responded that he would cooperate as much as possible.

Reporter Kang Min-u has the story.

[Reporter]

President Lee Jae-myung met with U.S. President Donald Trump at an official dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit.

The two leaders, meeting 21 days after the G7 summit last month, held follow-up discussions on the construction of U.S. military vessels, which was discussed at the time.

The Presidential Office stated that they also recalled the promise of a golf meeting mentioned back then and agreed to pursue a visit to the U.S. and a round of golf at an appropriate time.

Prior to this, in his keynote speech at the NATO Defense Industry Forum, President Lee proposed a new partnership that goes beyond the trade of weapon systems to "building together and using together."

[President Lee Jae-myung: I propose upgrading to a 'Korea-NATO Defense Industry Partnership 2.0,' where we research, produce, and operate weapon systems together.]

Following a meeting with Secretary General Mark Rutte, negotiations have also begun on the 'Korea-NATO Procurement Agreement' to establish an institutional foundation for South Korean companies to participate in the NATO joint logistics procurement market.

On the second day of the summit, President Lee held consecutive meetings with leaders from Norway and Romania, who have continued defense cooperation with South Korea, as well as the President of Ukraine.

[President Lee Jae-myung: The current international situation is very unstable, and I believe that cooperation and exchange between nations are more important than ever at times like this.]

He promised comprehensive support worth 100 million dollars to Ukraine and expressed his intention to join in efforts for peace and reconstruction.

President Lee, who presented a new vision for defense cooperation at his first NATO summit since taking office, will now travel to Mongolia to continue his schedule for a state visit, the first in 15 years.

Reported by Ha Ryung | Video by Jang Hyun-ki | Graphics by Choi Jin-hoe