London : South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signed the “Downing Street Accord” on Wednesday, raising the two countries’ security and economic ties to the highest level.
The accord was signed following a summit between the two leaders at the prime minister’s office in London, whose address, 10 Downing Street, inspired its name, Yonhap reported.
The agreement called for elevating bilateral ties to a “global strategic partnership” from the current “broad and creative partnership” established in 2013, as the two countries celebrated the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Yoon’s four-day state visit to London.
The accord called for conducting joint patrols to enforce international sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and establishing a Strategic Cyber Partnership to better counter and deter cyber threats.
It also noted that the agreement aims to deepen collaboration on the responsible military use of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies and to launch negotiations to upgrade their bilateral free trade agreement in a way that reflects the importance of supply chain resilience, the digital economy, and energy cooperation, among other things.
