The South Korean Prime Minister visited Trinity today, taking a tour of the Old Library and the Book of Kells.
Tourists looked on as Lee Nak-yeon, who has been prime minister of the country since 2017, visited Trinity’s historic campus. There was a heavy security presence in Front Square for his visit.
Lee was escorted through Trinity by Vice-Provost Chris Morash and Head Librarian Helen Shenton. He also met with Moonyoung Hong, a Korean PhD student attending Trinity.
College is well used to being visited by world leaders. Former Vice-President of the US, Joe Biden, has visited Trinity twice in recent years, while Angela Merkel and Nicola Sturgeon have both made appearances before Trinity societies.
In 2017, Britain’s controversial Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson caused a stir on campus as he visited Trinity’s research centres.
This is the first occasion since 1990 that a Prime Minister of South Korea has visited Ireland. Lee will meet with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and President Michael D Higgins during his visit.
The eyes of the world have been on Korea in recent weeks, as hopes of a summit between North Korea and the US have faded, after US President Trump cancelled the meeting in an angry letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Correction: May 29th, 2018
An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelt the name of Trinity PhD student Moonyoung Hong. This has since been corrected.
