사진 확대

Gates Foundation chair Bill Gates visited South Korea on Thursday, meeting with President Lee Jae-myung, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok in a packed day of official engagements that included a press conference.

This was Gates’ first visit to Korea in three years, during which he met with leaders from government, parliament, and business. His main purpose was to discuss global health cooperation with Korea, but he also shared his views on advanced technologies and future energy such as artificial intelligence (AI) and small modular reactors (SMRs).

Emphasizing Korea’s technological capacity and outstanding production capabilities, Gates expressed strong interest in collaboration on vaccine distribution projects in low-income countries led by his foundation, which raised expectations for concrete results.

Gates visited the Presidential Office in Yongsan, central Seoul, in the morning, and praised Korea’s vaccines, diagnostic kits, and solutions.

He told Lee that the foundation’s goal is to reduce the number of child deaths worldwide to under 2 million annually within the next 20 years, noting that there is a way for Korea to play a pivotal role in the effort. The first is via Korea’s innovative products, with Korean bioscience products at an astonishing level.

Gates also specifically mentioned the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in Korea alongside SK biosensor, SK, LG, and Eubiologics, commending their achievements and noting that he has had many opportunities to work directly with the companies’ products, particularly vaccines and diagnostic kits during the Covid-19 pandemic, and they played a very important role.

Lee responded by saying that “I deeply respect your public work for the planet and humanity as a whole.”

“The Korean government will do everything possible to join in these efforts.”

After his meeting with Lee, Gates had lunch with Prime Minister Kim, continuing discussions on health cooperation. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Kim invited Gates to attend the 2025 World Bio Summit hosted annually by the government.

Gates met National Assembly Speaker Woo later in the afternoon and also visited the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. During the meeting, he urged parliamentary support for raising Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) contribution to 0.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

“Korea is already fulfilling its important role as a responsible member of the international community, and we will continue to do so,” Woo said.

At a separate press event in Seoul, Gates once again asked Korea to allocate more ODA budget toward global health improvement.

Meanwhile, Korea’s bio industry also seized the opportunity presented by Gates’ visit to strengthen ties with the foundation.

SK bioscience held a private meeting with the Gates Foundation on Thursday to discuss global health cooperation, including the development of next-generation preventive medicines.

The RIGHT Foundation, an international health technology fund, also met with the Gates Foundation on the same day to explore stronger global health cooperation.

The foundation organized a roundtable between its member companies in Korea’s pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. Trevor Mundel, president of global health at the Gates Foundation, shared insights on the Gates Foundation’s international health investment strategy and updates on Korea’s progress in developing vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic devices.