UNJournal Lee Sung Jun | South Korean President Lee Jae-myung began a two-day official visit to Chile on 29 July (local time), opening his trip with a meeting with the Korean community in Santiago. The visit marks the first trip to Chile by a sitting South Korean president in 11 years and is expected to advance relations with a country that was South Korea's first free trade agreement partner.

The community meeting brought together around 100 representatives of Korean expatriate organizations in Chile, including the Korean Association in Chile, a senior citizens' association, and a restaurant business association, along with advisory council members and figures from the religious, cultural and education sectors.

Ha Sang-wook, head of the Korean Association in Chile, welcomed the president by noting that the Korean community in Chile is the sixth-largest in Latin America and will mark the 50th anniversary of the association's founding in 2028. He thanked the president for treating overseas Koreans as a valuable asset to the country and expressed the community's determination to remain, in his words, an "irreplaceable" presence in Chile, much as Korea itself has become globally recognized as such.

In his remarks, President Lee noted that relations between South Korea and Chile have long been built on trust rather than geographic proximity, and praised the Korean community in Chile for a history of forging its own path in a new country. He said cooperation between the two nations was expanding across critical minerals, clean energy, digital technology and artificial intelligence, and science, technology and culture, and pledged that the government would continue listening to the concerns of overseas Koreans and expanding support accordingly.

He specifically cited a new service launching 30 July that will allow Koreans abroad to submit financial power-of-attorney documents verified by overseas missions online, easing a longstanding inconvenience for community members needing to handle banking matters in Korea. He said the government would continue to address even small difficulties faced by overseas Koreans.

Several community members also shared their experiences during the meeting. Choi Jin-ok, director of the Sejong Institute in Santiago, said she was proud to introduce Chilean students to South Korea's recovery from a period of democratic crisis, and requested continued support for expanding opportunities to learn about Korea outside the capital. Lee Seung-hwan, a next-generation leader with the World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Associations, called for greater support for Korean-language schools and youth programs, while Park Su-young, an intern at the law firm Juppet & Park, expressed hope to contribute to bilateral cooperation and exchange.

Concluding the meeting, President Lee remarked on the vitality of the Korean community he encountered "across the Andes," attributing much of that vitality to the work of Korea's consular and diplomatic missions in the country. He also congratulated the community on the designation of a "Korea Street" in Chile and instructed the Overseas Koreans Agency to review measures to improve safety and revitalize Korean business districts, adding that Chile's role as a hub for the spread of Korean culture in the region warranted particular attention.

In a written briefing, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung outlined the goals of the visit, saying South Korea and Chile were expected to strengthen cooperation across resources and energy supply chains, including critical minerals, and to expand trade and investment. She added that the two countries plan to deepen practical cooperation in areas such as security, defense, infrastructure, maritime affairs and culture, and to resume high-level exchanges and intergovernmental consultation mechanisms.

On the second day of the visit, 30 July, President Lee is scheduled to lay a wreath at a statue of independence hero Bernardo O'Higgins, attend an official welcoming ceremony at La Moneda presidential palace, and hold a summit with Chilean counterparts, followed by the signing of memoranda of understanding, a joint press statement and an official luncheon.

A Korea-Chile business roundtable is also planned, bringing together roughly 30 companies from both countries to discuss cooperation on stabilizing critical mineral supply chains, expanding investment, and advancing partnerships in AI and digital technology, clean energy, biotechnology and Korean consumer goods.