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| President Moon Jae-in makes his comments at the start of a weekly meeting with senior presidential aides at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
President Moon Jae-in plans to discuss signing a possible free trade agreement (FTA) with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin during his planned summit with Rivlin at Cheong Wa Dae, July 15, Moon's office said, Tuesday.
"Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will visit South Korea from July 14 to 18. Rivlin's visit is an official state visit. President Moon will hold a summit with the Israeli president at Cheong Wa Dae, July 15," Cheong Wa Dae vice spokesman Han Jeong-woo told reporters in a briefing.
The presidential aide said Rivlin's visit could serve as a catalyst for an upgrade of relations between Jerusalem and Seoul. Twenty-five years ago, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin visited South Korea and met with then President Kim Young-sam. That visit was a milestone in relations between the two countries.
"The planned South Korea-Israel summit will cover key outstanding issues such as the signing of a bilateral FTA," Han said, adding Moon also plans to sign various memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on technical cooperation in the areas of fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications, internet of things (IoT), driverless cars and artificial intelligence, all of which were identified as "next growth engines" for South Korea.
South Korea was wary of Israel following the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1962, fearing that an upgrade of relations would threaten its billions of dollars in projects and trade with other states in the Middle East.
The economy is a central pillar in Jerusalem-Seoul relations, and there is the potential to double the trade between the two nations over the next three years, the presidential aide said.
"President Rivlin's official visit to South Korea could be an opportunity for an announcement of a South Korean state visit by President Moon to Israel, and to the Palestinian Authority. By promoting reconciliation efforts, he can play a part in bringing peace not just to the Korean Peninsula, but to the Middle East as well," said Alon Levkowitz, a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
