Lee and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva adopted a joint statement declaring 2026 the first year of a new phase in bilateral ties, while signing seven agreements covering industrial technology, space, energy, education, sports, film and cybersecurity.
The leaders also agreed to seek a resumption of negotiations on a trade agreement between South Korea and Mercosur, the South American customs bloc comprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The two countries will establish a bilateral working group to examine trade opportunities and sensitive industries, with the aim of announcing the resumption of negotiations around the 69th Mercosur summit in December.
“We deeply agreed that the Korea-Mercosur trade agreement is an important task that can no longer be delayed, particularly at a time of increasing uncertainty in the global trading environment,” Lee said.
The centerpiece of the summit was an agreement to cooperate across the entire supply chain for critical minerals, including rare earths, combining Brazil's resource base with Korea's semiconductor, battery and advanced manufacturing industries.
"We recognized the need to expand cooperation across the entire critical-minerals supply chain," Lee said after the summit, adding that the two governments would establish an official cooperation channel while encouraging partnerships between companies.
Defense cooperation also gained new institutional backing.
The two countries agreed to launch a bilateral defense cooperation committee later this year and begin negotiations on an agreement governing the protection and exchange of classified military information, laying the foundation for broader defense-industrial collaboration.
The leaders highlighted South Korea's acquisition of Embraer's C-390 military transport aircraft as a model for future industrial cooperation. Korean-made components will be incorporated into the aircraft, with both sides agreeing to expand collaboration into future air mobility.
The two sides agreed to build on the project by exploring cooperation in future air mobility, drawing on Brazil’s aircraft-manufacturing capabilities and Korea’s strengths in electronics, batteries, materials and advanced manufacturing.
“By further developing this cooperation, we agreed to pursue projects that make use of our respective strengths in future air mobility,” Lee said.
A separate space cooperation agreement will simplify procedures for commercial launch vehicles while expanding satellite-data sharing and joint space exploration.
Brazil operates the Alcantara Space Center near the equator, a location that can reduce the fuel needed for certain satellite launches. Korea, meanwhile, is expanding its domestic rocket, satellite and space-data industries.
Following the summit in Brasilia, Lee traveled to Sao Paulo to meet business leaders from both countries, seeking to turn the political agreements into commercial projects involving critical minerals, semiconductors, energy, aerospace and defense.
Executives from Hyundai Motor Group, Samsung Electronics, POSCO Holdings, LG Electronics, Hanwha Ocean, Naver and other major Korean companies are expected to attend the Korea-Brazil Business Roundtable.
Lee described Brazil as Korea's largest investment destination in Latin America and asked Lula to continue supporting Korean companies expanding operations in the country.
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