Lee arrives in Turkey for summit talks on defense, nuclear energy cooperation

President Lee Jae Myung, right, shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their encounter on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 22. Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung arrived in Ankara on Monday for summit talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with discussions expected to focus on economic cooperation in the defense and nuclear energy industries.

Lee flew to Turkey from South Africa after wrapping up his visit to Johannesburg for the Group of 20 (G20) summit, marking the final stop of his four-nation Middle East and Africa tour.

On the first day of his visit, Lee is scheduled to hold summit talks with Erdogan to discuss ways to expand economic cooperation, particularly in the defense and nuclear energy industries.

Defense collaboration has been a cornerstone of bilateral ties, with Turkey operating its own variant of Korea's K9 self-propelled howitzer and partnering with Korean defense contractor Hyundai Rotem on the development of the Altay main battle tank program.

Nuclear energy is also expected to be a major agenda item, as Korea has expressed interest in Turkey's plan to build its second nuclear power plant in Sinop on the Black Sea coast.

Their meeting will be the second this week, as Lee and Erdogan met on the sidelines of the G20 summit for a gathering of MIKTA, a group of five middle-power nations, including Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia.

Before the summit, Lee plans to visit the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father and first president of Turkey.

On Tuesday, Lee will lay a wreath at the cemetery for Korean War veterans and meet with members of the Korean community in Turkey.

Turkey sent the fourth-largest number of troops to the 1950-53 Korean War as part of the U.N. forces, contributing more than 21,000 personnel.

Lee is scheduled to return home Wednesday, concluding his 10-day trip that also included visits to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.