King and Queen to host South Korean leader for state visit to UK
Charles and Camilla will entertain Yoon Suk Yeol at Buckingham Palace in November.
The president of South Korea is to pay a state visit to the UK in November after accepting an invitation from the King.
Charles and the Queen will host Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee at Buckingham Palace.
It will be the second incoming state visit of the King’s reign, after South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa’s stay last autumn.
Mr Yoon, 62, carried out a state visit to the US in April when he belted out a verse of one of his favourite songs, American Pie, at a White House dinner at the request of President Joe Biden.
The South Korean leader, who has secured a landmark deal with the US to counter the North Korean nuclear threat, is unlikely to deliver a similar performance at the palace.
The King and the South Korean president met previously at the reception for heads of state and official overseas guests at the palace on the eve of the late Queen’s funeral.
Mr Yoon’s opponents accused him of being disrespectful during his trip to London after he missed the chance to view the late Queen’s coffin lying in state – which he blamed on heavy traffic.
Mr Yoon has warned fellow world leaders about possible co-operation between North Korea and Russia after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The King sent his “good wishes” to the people of North Korea earlier this month to mark the country’s national day, but the Government insisted it was not a message of support for Mr Kim and his regime.
Charles, as the Prince of Wales, was a key guest at a state banquet hosted by his mother for the then-South Korean leader Roh Moo-hyun in London in 2004.
The King visited South Korea in November 1992.
