President Lee Jae Myung held phone talks Wednesday with Kazakhstan's president and discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation, Lee's office said.
During the call, Lee expressed gratitude to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for sending a congratulatory message on the launch of his administration, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing.
The two leaders agreed to expand cooperation in areas such as infrastructure and critical minerals, Kang said.
Lee also voiced hope that the two countries' strategic partnership, established in 2009, will continue to grow stronger.
In particular, he thanked Tokayev for his active support for the repatriation of the remains of Gen. Hong Beom-do, a historic South Korean independence fighter against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.
Hong led Korean independence forces to major victories against Japanese troops in 1920. He moved to the Soviet Union the following year to escape Japanese persecution, and in 1937 was forcibly relocated to present-day Kazakhstan under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's deportation policy targeting ethnic Koreans.
He died in Kazakhstan's Kyzylorda region in 1943, two years before Korea regained independence. His remains were repatriated to South Korea in 2021.
Lee also called for continued interest and support for South Korean companies operating in Kazakhstan, the office said. (Yonhap)
