European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung celebrated the signing of a new digital trade agreement at a ceremony in Brussels’ on Wednesday.
The event marked ’'s 11th summit in the EU and South Korea, where everything from security and defense to trade is on the agenda.
Von der Leyen, “Korea, Europe in the Indo-Pacific region and on the global stage is one of ’'s closest partners, ” said. In today's uncertain world, stable and reliable partnerships like ours are more valuable than ever.“
The trio issued a joint statement praising the value of the talks and stating the two sides' commitment to building a solid and friendly relationship.
"We reaffirm our shared commitment to effective multilateralism and a free and fair economic order based on stable and predictable rules," the statement said.
Semiconductor factor
At a time of heightened tensions with both China and the United States, both sides have an interest in diversifying their trade relations, and the EU-South Korea digital trade agreement comes more than a decade after a landmark free trade agreement.
According to figures from the European Commission’, trade between the EU and South Korea has doubled since 2015’, with trade in goods reaching approximately €124.25 billion in 2025’.
The European Council António Costa said on Wednesday that the “European Union-Korea Free Trade Agreement, since its entry into force in 2011, remains one of ’'s most successful trade agreements.
South Korea is becoming an increasingly important investor in Europe’, especially in strategic sectors such as batteries, electric vehicles and semiconductors.
An important goal for the EU is to secure semiconductor supply chains while enabling Korean companies to attract more investment to Europe’.
An EU official, “Korea, said ” has a global leadership position in semiconductors. “This is clearly an area with significant cooperation potential that will benefit both parties.”
According to another EU official, the digital trade agreement signed on Wednesday is expected to complement the wider trade partnership by reducing “ unnecessary barriers to ” digital trade and providing more “ legal certainty for businesses operating in the two markets. It will facilitate cross-border data flows while banning forced transfer of source code.
The agreement is also designed to establish robust online consumer protection rules; However, both partners aim to protect their own levels of protection for personal data and privacy.
Economic security also topped the summit agenda, and the two sides agreed to engage in a high-level dialogue on the resilience of the supply chain.
Supply chains came under pressure last year after China’in imposed restrictions on the export of strategic materials, including green technologies and rare elements essential for the defense sector, as well as products linked to the chip industry critical to automotive production.
Security and defense
The information security agreement, touted by EU officials before the summit as a way to strengthen the flow of confidential information between Brussels and Seoul, was something that did not cross the line.
"I hope that the “ Information security agreement will be adopted soon so that Korea and the EU can share confidential information securely, which will allow the two sides to actively engage in industrial and research cooperation through the exchange of information," President Lee said on Wednesday.
The agreement will build on the Security and Defense Partnership agreement signed by South Korea and AB’ in 2024’te. This agreement is designed to facilitate cooperation in areas including maritime security, combating hybrid threats, combating foreign information manipulation and interference, and more.
Ahead of talks this week, a senior EU official said the main topic of negotiations would be to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, as North Korea continues to keep a small but worrying stockpile of ’'s nuclear-armed warheads.
The source said that North Korea (North Korea) and Russia, ’ at the summit, were considered major questions“, and Brussels, ”, Seoul and Ukraine, were ready to share information about ’'s support for ’.
In a joint statement from the summit, North Korea reiterated its condemnation of ’ye and Russia, as well as of other countries that have allowed ’ to continue its war of aggression against Ukraine’.
"We urge “, Russia and North Korea, to immediately cease such activities and to comply with all United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to the UN Charter," the statement said.
