South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung arrived in Ulaanbaatar on a state visit, the first by a Korean head of state in 15 years, and declared that the two countries should open a 'golden era' in bilateral relations.
At a formal summit on July 9, Lee and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh agreed to push bilateral trade to one billion dollars by 2030, up from its current level. The two sides also pledged to deepen cooperation on rare earths and other critical minerals, with Lee pointing out that Mongolia's resource wealth and South Korea's capital and technology could produce meaningful supply-chain synergies. A framework agreement on economic partnership, described as having reached a 'provisional conclusion,' was cited as the foundation for the expanded cooperation. The two governments also agreed to recognise each other's driving licences.
On Korean Peninsula security, Lee asked Mongolia, which holds the distinction of being the second country to have established diplomatic ties with North Korea, to support peace efforts. According to Yonhap, Mongolia's side responded that it would work to help create conditions for inter-Korean dialogue and reconciliation.
On the evening of July 9, Lee and his wife Kim Hye-kyung made an unannounced visit to 'Seoul Street,' a stretch of Ulaanbaatar lined with Korean brands and restaurants that dates to a 1995 sister-city agreement between Seoul and the Mongolian capital. Residents greeted the couple in Korean, with some offering handshakes and finger-hearts. Lee sampled kimbap, tteokbokki, and dumplings from a street stall; a vendor told him the spicy rice cakes were especially popular among young Mongolians. The couple then had dinner at a Mongolian-run Korean restaurant nearby.
On day two of the visit, July 10, Lee was scheduled to meet the speaker of Mongolia's parliament and its prime minister separately, attend a state banquet hosted by President Khurelsukh, and visit a memorial to Yi Tae-jun, a Korean independence activist and physician who practiced medicine in Mongolia in the early twentieth century. The visit concludes on July 11, when Lee is to attend the opening of Naadam, Mongolia's largest national festival, as a guest of honour, a first for a South Korean president.