[News Today] President Lee to attend G7 Summit

[LEAD]
President Lee Jae-myung is set to take part in the G7 Summit in Canada starting on the 15th.
The gathering is expected to serve as a key turning point, signaling the normalization of Korea's diplomacy after it was effectively stalled by the emergency martial law incident.

[REPORT]
The G7 Summit is set to be held less than two weeks after President Lee Jae-myung took office.

The top office has officially announced Lee will participate in the summit.

Kang Yu-jung / Presidential Spokesperson
President Lee Jae-myung has decided to attend the G7 Summit, to which he has been invited.

Although there is little time to prepare, the president apparently believes it's urgent to restore Korea's diplomacy, which had been halted due to the emergency martial law incident.

The upcoming visit will be meaningful in that by meeting with several world leaders at the G7 Summit at once shortly after his inauguration, Lee will show the world that Korea is getting back on track.

It will be an opportunity to meet soon with U.S. President Donald Trump, with whom Lee had spoken on the phone lately, and the two may hold a bilateral summit.

A presidential official insinuated at the possibility of a meeting between the leaders of South Korea and the U.S., which is a topic of high interest, and added that the presidential office is making thorough preparations.

The upcoming G7 Summit will serve as a stage to demonstrate President Lee's so-called pragmatic diplomacy.

The G7 leaders will likely maintain a containment strategy toward China amid Washington's tensions with Beijing. All eyes are on what message President Lee will issue in consideration of future relations with Beijing.

With the possibility of a South Korea-Japan or South Korea-U.S.-Japan summit, the upcoming event could provide glimpses of how President Lee, who has emphasized national interests in diplomacy, will begin his administration's relations with Tokyo.

It has yet to be decided if President Lee will attend the NATO Summit slated for later this month in the Netherlands.