Diplomatic leaders of South Korea and Britain converse about their mutual relationships during initial phone discussions
The strategic partnership between South Korea and the UK is currently focused on deepening cooperation in trade, defense, climate change, and artificial intelligence. The latest developments in this partnership were highlighted in a conversation between Foreign Minister Cho Hyun of South Korea and his British counterpart, David Lammy, on Monday.
The conversation, which took place over the phone, revolved around advancing their strategic partnership and discussing security issues, particularly the security of the Korean Peninsula and the situation in Ukraine. Both ministers agreed to meet at an early date for in-depth discussions on further strengthening bilateral ties.
On August 18, 2025, both countries held the second UK-South Korea Senior Economic Dialogue in Seoul, reaffirming the strength of their Global Strategic Partnership. They discussed progress in negotiating an upgraded UK-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), concluding five negotiation rounds with ambition to finalize talks by the end of 2025. Both commit to deepening bilateral trade and investment, improving the business environment, and cooperating in priority sectors such as clean energy, digital technologies, the defense industry, and engineering biology. They also emphasized enabling the Joint Defence Exports Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate defense industrial collaboration.
Cybersecurity collaboration is growing under the Korea-UK Strategic Cyber Partnership, signed in November 2023, focusing on cyber deterrence and responding to hybrid threats such as Russian cyber espionage. South Korea publicly supported the UK’s exposure of Russian malicious cyber activities, reflecting a commitment to promoting an open and secure cyberspace and strengthening defense against hostile digital operations.
The UK government is urged to prioritize the Indo-Pacific region, including South Korea, by deepening joint initiatives with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. This includes expanding cooperation on trade, climate action, and maritime security, as well as bolstering regional stability and integration, which complements UK-South Korea strategic interests in security and economic domains.
In summary, the partnership is expanding through negotiations on upgrading the UK-Korea Free Trade Agreement targeting completion in 2025, strengthened cooperation in defense industries, supported by joint defense export frameworks, collaboration in emerging technologies such as AI and clean energy, enhanced cybersecurity cooperation under a strategic cyber partnership, and shared commitment to address climate change and regional security, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. These developments position the UK and South Korea to deepen their multifaceted partnership to address evolving global economic, security, and technological challenges.
Both Cho and Lammy expressed hope for closer cooperation in upgrading their bilateral free trade agreement and in other key areas, including trade, defense, and climate change. Lammy also expressed his expectation for continued communication between the two sides in these areas. Cho urged Britain's active support for the new administration's foreign policy, but no new information about this was provided in the conversation.
The upcoming meeting between Cho and Lammy is aimed at further strengthening bilateral ties through in-depth discussions. Both ministers agreed to further strengthen bilateral ties through this meeting and future discussions.
Artificial intelligence is an area where both South Korea and the UK demonstrated their commitment to cooperation, aiming to deepen it further through their ongoing strategic partnership. The discussion on security issues also touched upon the political sphere, as both ministers acknowledged the importance of strengthening ties in the Indo-Pacific region, including South Korea, and expanding cooperation with strategic partners such as Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.
