​​By Lee Jon-young

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is in New York for the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held a meeting with President Stevo Pendarovski of North Macedonia on the afternoon of September 21, the first such meeting since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 2019.

President Yoon congratulated North Macedonia on its membership in the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and requested North Macedonia's support for the 2030 Busan World Expo.

Yoon said he looks forward to expanding cooperation with North Macedonia, which has a competitive automotive parts industry. President Pendarovski expressed his hope that there will be opportunities to cooperate with leading Korean companies in future industries such as electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel. 

In particular, he hopes that North Macedonia can become a new reshoring alternative in the auto parts industry by working with the world-class automotive industry in Korea. He also expressed his hope that the large-scale project to modernize the customs administration supported by Korea will be successful and that the two countries will continue to work closely together in the field of development cooperation.

The two leaders agreed to continue to identify cooperative projects to expand people-to-people exchanges between the two countries through programs such as scholarships and invitations to government officials.