SEOUL, September 24 (AJP) -K-beauty and BTS are set to loom large over President Lee Jae Myung's state visit to Mexico, as South Korea seeks to turn the enormous popularity of Korean culture into deeper business ties with Latin America's second-largest economy.
Lee arrived in Mexico City Wednesday for the first state visit by a South Korean president in 16 years, with a summit with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum scheduled for Thursday.
While electric vehicles, batteries, defense and a long-stalled free trade agreement are high on the summit agenda, Korean pop culture has emerged as one of the most visible bridges between the two countries.
Lee is due Friday to visit K-Expo Mexico at the World Trade Center in Mexico City, where Korean companies are showcasing everything from cosmetics and food to entertainment and technology. The four-day event brings about 100 Korean companies together for consumer exhibitions, business matching and K-pop programs.
K-beauty has a particularly prominent place.
A business-matching program running alongside the event lists beauty and personal care among its main sectors, connecting Korean companies with Mexican and Latin American buyers, distributors and retailers.
The cultural groundwork was dramatically laid by BTS four months earlier.
Sheinbaum received the K-pop supergroup at the National Palace in May, where the seven members spent about 40 minutes with the Mexican president and received a government commemorative plaque.
BTS then joined Sheinbaum on a palace balcony overlooking the Zocalo, where around 50,000 fans and residents had gathered to see them.
“Music and values unite Mexico and South Korea,” Sheinbaum said at the time.
Lee highlighted that episode in an interview with Mexican daily El Universal ahead of his summit, describing BTS' meeting with Sheinbaum as symbolic of the growing cultural affinity between the two countries.
The president said the countries plan to broaden cultural cooperation through joint productions, professional training and a proposed K-culture center.
The cultural push sits alongside a much larger economic agenda.
In the same interview, Lee singled out electric vehicles as an area with particularly strong potential, arguing that Mexico's automotive production base and supply chains could be combined with South Korea's strengths in batteries and EV components.
He cited Kia's investment in Nuevo Leon and described Mexico as more than a manufacturing base for Korean companies, calling it a strategic gateway to North America and global markets.
Around 500 Korean companies have invested about $13.3 billion in Mexico and created some 150,000 jobs, Lee said.
He also called for the resumption of negotiations on a Korea-Mexico free trade agreement, a bilateral social security pact and stronger investment protection mechanisms. FTA negotiations stalled after 2008 despite attempts to revive them.
Defense could provide another opening. Lee pitched Korea Aerospace Industries' FA-50 light combat aircraft for Mexico's fighter modernization program, citing its performance and price competitiveness.
Artificial intelligence, digital technology, aerospace, critical minerals and cooperation against transnational crime are also expected to feature in Lee's talks with Sheinbaum.
AJP Takeaways
- President Lee Jae Myung is making the first state visit to Mexico by a South Korean president in 16 years, with culture and consumer brands emerging alongside trade and industrial cooperation as key themes.
- K-beauty is expected to feature prominently as Seoul seeks to turn the popularity of Korean cosmetics and culture into broader commercial opportunities in Mexico and Latin America.
- Lee highlighted BTS’ May meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as a symbol of rapidly expanding cultural ties between the two countries.
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