President Lee Jae-myung departed today (July 24) for an 11-day overseas tour covering the United States, three South American nations, and Germany.

Accompanied by First Lady Kim Hye-kyung, President Lee departed from Seoul Air Base at around 1 p.m. today for San Francisco, the first stop of the trip.

Earlier, a send-off ceremony at the airport was attended by Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Hong Ik-pyo, Democratic Party Acting Leader and Floor Leader Han Byung-do, Minister of the Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung, and 1st Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Yoon-joo to see off the presidential couple.

Upon arriving in San Francisco, President Lee will first hold meetings with CEOs of big tech companies, including Nvidia and OpenAI, and announce the San Francisco AI Declaration.

He will then visit Brazil, Chile, and Argentina to hold summit talks with leaders of each country, and wrap up his itinerary with a meeting with the Korean community in Germany before returning home.

The Blue House explained that the significance of this tour lies in demonstrating domestic and international resolve for AI cooperation between South Korea and major tech firms, as well as establishing critical mineral supply chain partnerships with three major resource-rich South American nations.