French President Emmanuel Macron held a summit meeting with his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung on Friday (April 3) at the Blue House in Seoul.

Macron arrived in South Korea on Thursday (April 2) for a two-day state visit after also visiting Japan, and the two leaders are set to upgrade relations between the countries to a "global strategic partnership," Seoul's Blue House said in a statement.

It is the first state visit by a French president since 2015 and French officials have said the trip aims to strengthen France's strategic and economic role in the region at a time of "strong international and regional tensions."

French officials previously said the Middle East crisis would be "at the heart of discussions," pointing to the shared economic exposure of both nations.

-Dogyun Kim, Minwoo Park/Reuters