Reported by:
Cherry Meigh Timbol
News Content Editor
Published November 4, 2026
SEOUL – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Seoul on Monday for a three-day state visit at the invitation of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. He and first lady Emine Erdogan were greeted at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam by South Korean Trade Minister Park Jung-sung. The visit is scheduled to run until Nov. 4.
Nuclear energy at the center
In a written interview with Yonhap before the trip, Erdogan said Turkey had carried out preliminary feasibility studies with the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and was still assessing the technical and economic terms of a Black Sea project. His remarks put nuclear cooperation at the center of his first visit to South Korea since 2018, but stopped short of announcing a deal.
The plant is Turkey’s planned second nuclear facility, in Sinop. KEPCO has submitted a preliminary bid to join the project. During Lee’s November 2025 visit to Ankara, Turkey’s nuclear company TÜNAŞ and KEPCO signed a memorandum of understanding on nuclear energy cooperation. Under that agreement, the two sides would form a joint working group and share technological know-how.
Talks in Seoul
Erdogan called for deeper defense industry collaboration in talks on Tuesday, citing joint production of Firtina howitzers and Altay tanks, and pointed to trade targets and a deeper nuclear energy partnership. At an official dinner, he described the two countries as “blood brothers.” Erdogan has also expressed interest in cooperating on semiconductors, robotics and artificial intelligence.
Erdogan is accompanied by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, Defense Minister Yasar Guler and Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir, among others.
Trade imbalance
Bilateral trade reached $8.7 billion in the first nine months of 2026, and both countries are targeting $15 billion. Citing 2025 figures, Erdogan said Turkey exported about $1.14 billion in goods to South Korea while importing $10.26 billion, a gap of roughly $9.12 billion in Seoul’s favor.
Background
Turkey and South Korea will mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year. Lee’s 2025 trip to Turkey was the first state visit there by a Korean leader in 13 years. The two countries have discussed Turkey’s second nuclear plant before. They came close to an accord in 2010, and later talks did not produce an agreement.
