<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The president of South Korea will pay a state visit to the UK in November after accepting an invitation from King Charles III.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The King and Queen Camilla will host Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee at Buckingham Palace.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It will be the second incoming state visit of the King's reign, following South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa's stay last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The King and Queen have just returned from a three-day state visit to France.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Yoon, 62, visited the US in April when he sang a verse of Don McLean's American Pie - one of his favourite songs - at a White House dinner at the request of President Joe Biden.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He received rapturous applause from the audience before the US president presented him with a guitar signed by McLean.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The trip also saw Mr Yoon secure a landmark deal with the US to counter the North Korean nuclear threat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The details of his UK state visit have not been released, but the trip will most probably follow convention with a ceremonial welcome and carriage procession to Buckingham Palace, followed by a state banquet on the first evening.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Around 150 guests are usually invited to the formal affair in the ballroom. Before dinner is served, the King makes a speech and proposes a toast to the visiting head of state, who replies and in return proposes a toast to the monarch.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The King and the South Korean president met previously at the reception for heads of state and official overseas guests at the palace on the eve of Elizabeth II's funeral.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Mr Yoon was criticised across the South Korean political spectrum for not visiting the late queen's coffin lying in state - which he blamed on heavy traffic.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The King expressed his condolences to the people of South Korea following the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush in 2022, when more than 150 people were killed in Seoul's party district.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As Prince of Wales, King Charles was a key guest at a state banquet hosted by the late queen for the then-South Korean leader Roh Moo-hyun in 2004.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The King also visited South Korea in November 1992 with his then-wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Foreign monarchs, presidents or prime ministers are invited to visit the UK by the King on the advice of the British government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">State visits are not just ceremonial affairs - they are also diplomatic tools governments use to further what they see as the British national interests.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Visitors to the UK normally meet with the British prime minister, government ministers and leaders of the main political parties.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They may attend another banquet hosted by the Lord Mayor and City of London Corporation, where they will meet leaders of commerce and industry. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>