ISTANBUL

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met in Seoul on Monday and announced the elevation of bilateral relations to a strategic partnership.

A joint statement was released at the end of the bilateral meeting held in Seoul, South Korea, that aimed at “signifying the commitment of both countries to expanding cooperation to new horizons so as to promote freedom, peace, and prosperity and to addressing the pressing challenges moving forward.”

Anwar Ibrahim outlined the key areas of the strategic partnership via X to be “political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, cultural, educational and tourism cooperation where both countries agree to enhance cooperation in the public and private sectors, regional and global cooperation where both countries strongly condemned the actions of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) which launched a ballistic missile last October 31, in addition to emphasizing several other regional and global issues.”

The Malaysian premier, who is on an official visit to South Korea until Tuesday, described the visit as “important as Malaysia and South Korea will together celebrate the 'sapphire jubilee' in 2025, in addition to continuing to find space and ground to close the close cooperation between the two countries.”​​​​​​​