President Lee set to meet IEA chief to discuss energy security

The Korea Times - Sep 17, 2026

President Lee Jae Myung will meet with International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol on Thursday to discuss energy security and other global issues, his office said. The meeting at Cheong Wa Dae was arranged as a follow-up to Lee's proposal during the Group of Seven summit in June to discuss ways to cooperate to strengthen the resilience of Asia-Pacific nations' energy supply chain, it said in a press release. Lee and Birol plan to share views on ways to strengthen global energy security amid the intensifying energy and climate crises seen in the recent war in the Middle East and devastating flood in Nepal. Birol has been at the forefront of efforts to overcome the global energy crisis, such as by getting IEA member countries to release 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves in response to the Middle East conflict in March, the presidential office said.

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